


You Saved Me

by Shelby77gt



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Broken, Death, Engineering, Hope, Injury, Military, War, Weapons, Wounds, life - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-01-07 09:29:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 47,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18407852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shelby77gt/pseuds/Shelby77gt
Summary: Megatron kills Dreadwing instead of Starscream. but what happens when someone finds his body. Shelby happens to find him. brings him back to her home and repairs him. she doesn't know what she is repairing until he wakes. Will he seek revenge on Megatron and Starscream or will he stay with Shelby?Warning!There is some swearing and some graphic content. I don't think its bad enough to be classified as mature. And there isn't a lot of it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own anything but Shelby. This story won't go off of TFP but obviously it starts after Megatron killed Dreadwing. And no I am not an engineer. I'm just making this up as I go along. It just sounded like a good story idea to me.

She was concentrating hard. Her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. Her eyes squinting behind the pink and black welding mask. Trying to keep her hands steady as she finishes welding the last part of the robots armor. She's been working hard on completing her new project. It's a giant blue and yellow robot. It had a huge hole in the center of it's chest. Assuming that's where it's power source was. It was such advance technology. She wasn't sure if she was able to fix it. And the blue liquid leaking from it, she assumed was like a coolent to help it run. She tried to do research, but came up empty. So she did the best she could with her engineering background. 

"Finished. Now let's give it a jolt and see if it works." She says as she took off her welding mask and gloves. 

She took a set of jumper cables and hooks them up around the power source she was able to build for it and went to her mainframe and grabs ahold of the lever and pulls down. A flash of white light, making her cover her eyes. The robot jolts and sits up. She pulls the lever back up, to stop the voltage running though the robots body. It's howling. She stood there in awe. Watching the robot take in it's surroundings after its screams die down. Looking over it's body. Like it knew it had died and wasn't sure how it came back to the land of the living. It looks at it's hands and feet it's chest. It looked shocked to see the welding job done on it. Soon it looked over at her. Finally spotting the female in the room. 

"Where am I fleshy? How did I get here? And how am I alive? I was one with the Allspark. What did you do to me?" It starts to speak. Surprising the girl. She stares up in wonder and amazement. Unsure of what to say the giant bot. 

"Do you not speak?" It asks her. He has shifted himself so he was turned more to her and tried to grab for something behind him but came up empty. 

"No...no I speak. What are you? Clearly not made by humans." She finds the courage to say. 

"I asked you questions first fleshy. Answer me! Where are my weapons?" It points a large finger down to her. 

"Touche" she says and held her hands in front of her. Trying to show she means no harm. He gave her a questioning look. 

"Well first you are in my garage slash lab. And I was able to get you on a trailer and tow you here. It wasn't easy either. My trailer winch had a real hard time getting you on. And I thought you were just a robot I was fixing up. So I'm not sure how to answer how your alive. And you didn't have weapons. Just a giant hole in your chest. I tried to fix you up the best I could." She tells him. 

He stands up and looks around. Unsure of what to do next. He looks very confused. He didn't even know himself how he was able to be brought back. She walks slowly up to him and puts her hand on his foot. He snaps his eyes down in an instant. 

"What's your name? And if I can ask...what are you?" She looks up to him and asks. He bends down and picks her up by the back of her t-shirt. 

"Hey! Hey! Hey! What are you doing?" She yells at him. He quickly sets her on his giant metal hand. 

"Thank you." She stands tall and straightens out her clothes. When she is done, she looks up at him and crosses her arms. 

"My designation is Dreadwing. I am a autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron. But my fraction is Decepicon." Dreadwing says to her. "What is your designation?" 

"Shelby" She points to herself. 

"Well Shelby, I am in debt to you. You have brought me back. I don't know how I will ever repay you." He says and sets her back on the ground. 

"You don't owe anything. I didn't even know what I was doing. I just had fun rebuilding you. Oh and what's the blue stuff in your system? I couldn't figure out what it was and lucky for you, you still had plenty in your system. Is there more of you? What are you doing on our planet?" Shelby leans against a chair as she rattles off all these questions. 

"It is energon. Our blood. Something I will have to get more of. And yes there are. And our planet has fallen because of the war. So now we are fighting our war here." He stops talking and puts a finger to his mouth. As if he is in deep thought. Shelby wonders what he is thinking about. But isn't sure if she should ask or not. Then he starts to walk out if the garage. He has to bend down a little bit to get under the garage door. 

"Hey where are you going?" She calls after him. She runs out in front of him. Trying to stop him. She doesn't want him to leave yet. There was so much more she wants to ask him. 

"I have unfinished business to take care of. How long have I been dead? What is the date?" He looks down at me. 

"I'm not sure. You've only been with me for about 3 months. So at least 3 months. It's July 15th 2013." She says to him. He put his giant hand down on the ground and she walked on and held on to one of his fingers. 

"I need to get back to Megatron. Where did you find me?" He asks. 

"In the back acre of my property. But there wasn't anyone with you. It looked like you had fallen there. Who's Megatron?" She points north and he turned and looked. There wasn't much around where Shelby lived. He doesn't have to hide unless a car drives past. Which looks unlikely.

"Megatron is...was my master. My leader. But he decided to bring back Starscream, who let the Autobots kill my twin brother then brought him back with dark energon. Desecrating his grave." He looks down as he says the last part. Clearly still upset about the situation. Shelby stands up in his hand. Wishing she was closer, so she could try and comfort him. 

"I'm so sorry Dreadwing. I know what it's like to lose a loved one. Is Megatron the one who killed you?" She asks. Unsure if she really should have. 

"Yes he was." He looks at her. His face showing sadness and anger. 

"Why would you go back to him? He might kill you again. Then I'd have to bring you back again. Do you know how hard it was to build that power core? I still have no idea how it brought you back. But I don't want to spend another 3 months trying to do it again." She crosses her arms and turned away. 

"I have no where else to go. And I am in need of a medic. I need energon. And he is my master. I'm a loyal to him. And like I said, I have unfinished business to take care of." He says to her, adding a low scowl after.

"You can stay with me!" She says excitedly jumping up and surprises Dreadwing. 

His hand jolts outward causing Shelby to fall. She starts to scream. Putting her arms in front of her face to try and protect herself. Knowing it won't matter. She falls from who knows how high. Her eyes are squeezed shut. Dreadwing is quick and catches her leg. He drops put her in his hand and brings her to his face. She still has her eyes squeezed shut. Afraid to look.

"It's okay I caught you." He says looking intently at her. 

"Are you sure? I don't want to die." She cries out. Eyes still shut. She put her hands out and start to feel Dreadwing hand. She then opened one eye and peeked up at him. Finally she breathed out and relaxed. Her eyes open and looking up at him. 

"Thank you!" She hugs one of his fingers. "I guess you don't owe me anymore." 

"I may have saved you. But I didn't bring you back to life. And it was my fault you fell in the first place." Guilt filled his face. 

"But I surprised you. So it's my fault." She says. Trying to get him to feel better. He doesn't look at her. 

"Look less just forget it happened and move on. You can stay here if you need to. I hope you don't mind staying in my garage. I'll sleep on the couch out here. So your not alone." She continues. 

"I will not burden you. You have done to much for me. And I must get energon." He says as he sets her down. He then tries to do something with his body. But it is like only apart of him would move. Like he is trying to transform into something else.

Shelby looks in awe as he tried and tried again. He is starting to get frustrated now. Until he realizes something. He turns and looks to her. 

"What did you do to me?" He roars in anger.

 

His face is full of anger. He can't transform, but what is he trying to transform into. Shelby backs up, afraid he might try to kill her. She doesn't understand what she did wrong. He is feeling around his body. Looking for what? 

"Answer me! Why can't I transform?" He roars again. She stays where she is. 

"I didn't know you could transform. It must be the parts I welded to repair you. If your supposed to have moving parts, and because I didn't know. You won't be able to transform. I'm sorry."   
He is down in her face now. Anger glaring out of those red eyes. He uses logic to realize she isn't at fault. She truly didn't know. Now she needs to figure out how to repair him so he can transform.

"I need to get to a medic, so they can repair me." He says and stands tall towering over the girl. 

"Let me try. Maybe all it is just undoing something I welded." She says, clearly wanting to fix her mistake. 

"You don't know anything about cybertronian biology. And because we don't know how I came back to life. I don't want you undoing something that offline me again." He has a point. 

"Well how are we going to find a medic?" She asks. 

"I am not sure yet. The Nemisis is who knows where. I can't go to the Autobots." He starts but slowly gets quieter. Making it hard for her to hear.

*Autobots base*

"Optimus you won't believe what just came up on the monitor." Says a very surprised Ratchet. 

"What is it, old friend?" Wonders Optimus as he walks over to the computers. 

"It's a Decepticon life signature." Ratchet answers pointing to the screen. 

"Autobots roll out." Orders Optimus Prime.

*The Nemisis*

"Yes Soundwave, what is it?" Megatron grunts to his silent soldier. 

Soundwave pulled up a life signature on his visor.

"Dreadwing...He's alive!" Megatron's voice could be heard throughout the ship. 

"How is this possible?" He growls slamming his fist on the nearest vehicon. 

"Soundwave go check it out. And if you are correct and he is alive. Bring him back alive." With that, Soundwave opened a ground bridge and walked though.

*Shelby's home*

Two ground bridges open at the same time. On each side of Shelby and Dreadwing. 

"Get inside and close the door. Don't come out." Dreadwing yells to her. 

She closes the garage door and peaked out the window to see what was going on. What she sees amazes her. Out of one Ground bridge five Autobots stepped out and out of the other one just one Decepticon. The Autobots immediately take out there fire arms. Now Shelby understands the transfroming thing. Though only with the weapons. The Decepticon just stands there. She can't tell if it is talking or not. But the others are talking, maybe, she can only hear muffled noises, but the tallest one has a mask over his mouth. Dreadwing starts to back up towards the garage. His servos up in defense. The Autobots have their weapons pointed at Dreadwing and at the black and purple con.

"Please don't shoot him." She whispers to himself. 

She wishes she could go out and help. She sees the biggest Autobot, who was red and blue, put his weapons away and hold his servo out towards Dreadwing. Maybe he wants to help him. At least that is what it looks like. She can't see what Dreadwing is doing but she was able to hear him now, since he is now leaning up against the garage. 

"Prime, you know I am loyal to the Decepticons. I can not go with you." He sounds upset to say it. 

The purple and black starts walking towards Dreadwing. "Bring him back alive." It says, though it sounds like a recording. 

"Megatron will only offline me again." Dreadwing growls at the con. 

The red and blue Autobot says something she couldn't hear. 

"I was put back together. I was brought back. I don't know how. But I don't plan on going back offline." He must have gotten asked how he was alive.

The con then begins to send out tentacles at Dreadwing. Shelby has to stop it. She isn't sure what it's intentions are, but she isn't about to let Dreadwing get killed. 

"STOP!!!" She screams as she ran outside in front of Dreadwing. 

"SHELBY! I told you to stay inside." He yells at her. 

"I'm not about to let them try and kill you." She yells back still staring at the con, who has now retracted his tentacles. 

"A human?" says the white and orange Autobot. The Autobot leans to the large red and blue one and whispers something to him. 

Before anything else could happen, as Shelby is distracted, the con picks the girl up with his long purple tentacle. She starts to scream. 

"Put me down!" She growls. 

The red and blue Autobot takes out his weapons again. All of them pointing weapons at the con. 

"Soundwave, put her down. Leave her out of this." Dreadwing actually looks worried, but he is trying to hide it. 

The con named Soundwave starts to squeeze her harder. She hold back a scream trying to escape her throat as she is getting crushed. What he doesn't know is that she is able to reach for her gun on her waist, if only he would loosen his hold. 

"Put the girl down." Says the Prime, his mask covering his face again, he was ready to fight.

Dreadwing tries again to transform his servos. He struggles, pain and anger fill his face. The other Autobots notice this. 

The white and orange one yells over at him "Stop trying to force it!" 

Dreadwing glares at him, but stops. He looks back over to Shelby, he can see that she is struggling, but trying not to show it. Soundwave is staring at him, he knows what the con wants. He has to make a choice, save himself or the girl that brought him back to life. 

"I'll go." He says with a straight face, "Please just let her go." 

He starts to walk towards Soundwave. Soundwave then loosen his grip and that is Shelby's chance. She is able to pull her arm out, hand gripping the pistol tightly. 

"He ain't going with you con!" She yells right before she shot him in the visor, causing his visor to crack and break. 

He then drops her. Flinging his servos up to his face. Dreadwing jumps forward to catch her. He reaches her just as she is about to hit the ground. Her screams being heard for miles. Luckily no one lives within 10 miles from her. She opens her eyes when she realizes she hadn't hit the ground but metal. She looks up to Dreadwing and hugs one of his digits again. 

"Thank you. Again" She says huffing and puffing. 

"No, thank you." He says to her in a whisper. It is as if he doesn't want the Autobots to hear him. 

She smiles brightly up at him, with him staring back. They broke eye contact when they hear a cough from one of the Autobots. They both look over. Dreadwing stands tall, Shelby still in his hand. Soundwave had transformed and quickly flew off. Causing dust and leaves to whip up in their faces. Shelby covers her face, once the dust settles, she looks back up at Dreadwing and then over to the Autobots. 

"Who are you?" Asks the orange and white Autobot with an attitude. 

"My Name is Shelby, I'm the one who brought Dreadwing back to life." she says seriously staring them all down.   
They all gasp, staring at the two of them. 

"How? You don't know anything about cybertronian biology. There is no way a simple human could bring Dreadwing back to life." The orange and white bot starts to ramble off. 

"Ratchet, maybe there is more to this femme than we know. We should bring them both back to base." Says the large red and blue bot. 

"Optimus! we can't just bring a 'con and a human back to base. We don't know anything about her or if Dreadwing will just try and contact Megatron." Optimus understands what Ratchet meant. 

"Fair point, but Dreadwing needs to be looked at by a doctor. Something is clearly wrong with his t-cog." He says. 

Shelby looks up at Dreadwing, giving him a questioning look. Knowing what she is asking, "Its what makes us able to transform." He tells her. She gives him a understanding look and gazes back over to the Autobots.

"I believe that both of you should come back with us." Says the red and blue bot known as Optimus, authority bleeding off of him. 

"Why can't you just take care of him here?" Shelby wonders, standing up and putting her pistol back in its holster attached to the inside of her jeans. 

"Do you have any cybertronian equipment? Do you have energon? Do you have anything in our size?" judges Ratchet. 

He walks up to her where she stands in Dreadwing's hand with his servos on his hips. Shelby holds her ground, staring back at the medic having her arms cross over her chest. Dreadwing feels uneasy and slowly brings her closer to his chest. He isn't sure why, but he feels as if he needs to protect her. It could be just because she brought him back to life. Hopefully it is nothing. 

"No, but I have stuff my size and you could tell me what I need to do and no, don't know what energon is. But since I did bring him back from the dead, I would love to learn more about this cybertronian biology." She put one hand on her hip and brought her other hand up to her face and looking at her nails as she says this. When she finishes she looks up at the medic, smirking, waiting for his answer.   
All he does is scoff and walk back to the other Autobots. Once he got back next to Optimus, his back still to Shelby and Dreadwing, he scowls, "I am not teaching her. They will come back to base."   
Optimus only nods his head. 

"Raf, send a ground bridge." He says with a finger to his audio receptor. Next thing happening, a green and blue vortex opens up behind the Autobots. 

"Please follow." Is all he says.

Shelby looks up at Dreadwing. Unsure if she wants to follow. 

"I need to get fixed. So I should go. But you don't have to. I don't want you to get in harms way." Dreadwing explains her, then set his servo on the ground. But Shelby refuses to get off.   
"You go. I go." is all she says.

Not wanting to argue, He brings his servo back up and follows behind the team.


	2. This is how it went

They walked though the ground bridge into a secret base outside of Jasper, Navada. Far away from Shelby's home in Wisconsin. She is still standing in Dreadwing's servo, staring in awe at what is around her. Now that she doesn't feel threatened anymore, taking in the giant bots around her. She brought one back to life, to find out that there is more of him. She's not in shock or confused, just amazed she gets to learn about these new life forms. 

Dreadwing stops right after he steps though the ground bridge. His face showing no expressions, as he looks around. Some of the other bots are pointing their weapons at Shelby and Dreadwing. Once Shelby realized this she had her hand on her pistol. Even though she knows she won't do any damage. She already hurt a con today, and she would use that against them. 

"Autobots, put your weapons down." says the loud deep voice of Optimus. 

The large green one and blue and yellow one (a lighter blue and yellow than Dreadwing) with screaming 38's on his door wings, immediately put their weapons down. The blue female looking one, hesitated before putting hers down. Shelby then took her hand off her own weapon.

"Welcome Dreadwing and Shelby. Dreadwing you know everyone but Shelby. This is Ratchet, our medical officer, Bulkhead, Arcee and Smokescreen, warriors, Bumblebee our scout, The humans, Jack, Miko and Raf, and I am..." Optimus introducing all the bots. 

"Optimus Prime. Dreadwing told me a bit about you." She said to him, a beaming smile on her face. 

"Dreadwing is alive! I thought buckethead killed him?" Said the girl named Miko, her Black and pink hair bouncing as she ran up the stairs to get closer to their level. 

"Yes, the human he is holding, who somehow with no Cyberbertronian technology managed to bring him back to life." Says the medic, Ratchet as he walked over to another section of the base. 

"Well aren't you just a bundle of joy." Shelby countered crossing her arms and popping out her hip. Every bot and human besides Optimus laughed. Well Dreadwing didn't either but he did form a small smile looking at the sassy girl in his servo. 

"Dreadwing please come over here so I can scan you and start working. I'm not sure what the girl did to you. So it might take some time to correct it." Ratchet grumbles. 

Dreadwing gave a nod and started walking. Shelby still in his servo. "You can set her down. We won't squish her." Rachet pauses and looked at him. 

Dreadwing seemed hesitant to put the girl down. He gazes down at her as if to ask if it is okay. 

"It's alright. You can put me down." She says calmly, staring right back at him. Her hand resting on his thumb. Trying to comfort him. He slowly brings her down to the floor. Before she could even touch the floor, she is surrounded by the other humans. They are asking her so many questions. She can barely understand them. 

"Whoa! One at a time!" The older women yells over them.

"Where are you from?" Asked Raf. 

"A very small town in Wisconsin." She answered. 

"I doubt smaller than Jasper." Said the older boy Jack. 

"Well I don't even live in town. I live about 10-15 miles away from any town. But the closest town only has one street going through it. No stop lights. One grocery store. And one gas station." She told him. 

"Oh wow that is tiny. I've never been to a town smaller than ours." Said Jack. 

"How did you bring Dreadwing back to life? Is he a zombiebot now? Is he gonna eat the bots?" Miko asks, jumping up and down. 

Shelby chuckled, "he's not a zombie. I'm still not sure how I did it." 

"I think we all would like the answer to that question." Arcee chimed in, walking over to where they stood. 

"I believe we would like to know the whole story to when we found you." Says Optimus. 

Shelby looked over at Dreadwing who is being scanned by Ratchet. Then she looked back up at the Prime. "Its a pretty boring story, you sure you want to hear it?" She asks him. 

"Yes" He says to her.

Everyone, besides Dreadwing and Ratchet, are circled around Shelby where she stood next to some boxes next to the platform. Dreadwing and Ratchet glancing over at them from time to time. 

"I was doing a patrol around my property when I found him. He was on the far end of my property so I never heard him crash land. I do remember feeling the ground shake the night before I found him. Which was the reason for my patrol." She began.

(switches to first person, see end notes at the bottom)

I have never seen anything like it. This giant blue and yellow robot is laying in the far corner of my land. I slow down the four wheeler I am driving and pull to a stop. I hop off and walk over to the machine. I slid my hand over the metal surface. It is cold to the touch. I walk around it and look the entire thing over. Has a lot of scraps and dents on the body. Something I knew I could fix up. I climb up on top of it and look it over. Its face frozen in shock. But no light shining though its eye sockets. The large hole in its chest is what made me shiver. Wires, cables, circuits all hanging out, sparks are still flying and its leaking coolant. Weird looking coolant. Blue like some coolant, but super bright. I wonder what it is. Hopefully I can find out. It looks like this robot lost a lot of it. 

"I need to get the truck and trailer." I say to myself. I jump of the robot, hop on my four wheeler and race off the get my truck and trailer. 

Not to much time later, I'm driving along the dirt trails to where the big bot lays. And of course he's still there. Not that I expected it to move. I have a 22 foot gooseneck trailer hooked up to my Dodge ram 2500 HD diesel pick up truck. My trailer has a winch with a 12,000lb rating line for pulling. I have no clue how much this thing weighs, but hopefully I can at least get most of it on the trailer. I'm gonna have fun pulling this thing back to the shop. I back up the trailer to the back of the bots head. Yeah this is going to be a lot more difficult that I thought it would be. I hope it doesn't weigh to much. I hope my truck can pull it. I pull out the winch and walk it to one side of the body. I hope this is long enough as well. I manage to get it under one arm and start to climb up and over. So far so good. I get under the other arm and start to try and hook it to the other side. and that's when it stops. Damn out of line. Looks like I'll have to improvise. I set the winch down and run to my truck and hop in the bed. I open my tool box and grab a heavy duty ratchet strap. I run back over and hook one end to the end of the line for the winch, then get it hooked to the other side.

I synch the ratchet strap as tight as I can get it. Now for the moment of truth. I run up to the controls and start to bring the winch back in. Once it gets pulled straight and tight, it starts to slow down. There is so much weight, its struggling to pull it. That just tells me its over 12000 pounds. I figured that much, givin his size. I decide to get in the truck and back the trailer up as the winch pulls in. I have controls in the cab so I am able to multi task. I put it in reverse and start going back. Its going easier now. The trailer is starting to go under the robots head. I know my trailer can hold a lot of weight. But I don't know if it can with this much. The head is lifting onto the trailer. This is a good sign. Its arms are sort of spread out from how I have the winch line wrapped around it. At least I know it won't break. At least I hope. 

I soon get the head on it starts to go a little smoother and the body is starting to climb. He is as wide as the trailer. But I get him most of the way on. His legs dangle off about 6-7 feet. I hope when I start driving forward nothing come unattached. I jump out of my truck and get out some more ratchet straps to strap it down. Now I've done tons of jobs ratcheting or chaining down equipment. So this should be easy right? Boy was I wrong. I didn't want to use chains , so not to mess of the head. I throw the first ratchet strap over. Its shoulders hang off the sides about 3-5 feet. I have to climb underneath it to hook it to the trailer. Same on the other side. luckily I have long enough straps. They are heavy duty ones and long ones I collected from my time in the military. Once I have that finished, its time to see if I can move it. I look around and think if there is something I can do to help me move it better. This is not going to be easy at all. The way back to my shop, luckily is flat, but its uneven ground and there is a lot of trees and stuff in the way. Oh I wish I had some help.

*time skip though the boring hard part of moving Dreadwing*

My shop has garage doors on each side. One side is towards my land and the other is next to my house and driveway. Making it easy for me to just pull though and out the other side. It is going to be a tight fit for the bot. I had to clear out everything that could be moved and that I didn't need to work on him. I drove in pull right up until it's feet were just inside so I could close the garage door. I quickly unstrapped him. Slowly took the winch off as to not scratch his paint. Even though it did do some damage, I'm not worried, I know I can fix it. I slowly pull the trailer out from underneath My trailer starts to lift up in the front from the weight of it sliding towards the end. Next thing I know the back end of my truck starts to lift up as well. So I decide to just slam on the gas and pull out as fast as I can. The head made a loud slam onto the ground and my trailer and back end of my truck bounced down. Looking over my trailer and truck, my trailer's gooseneck is now bent pretty bad and the fifth wheel on my truck is practically torn off of my truck. That's gonna be fun to fix. 

For now I'm not going to worry about my truck or trailer. I can still drive my truck and that's all the matters at the moment. I know I'm going to need it to get parts. As long as I can get the fifth wheel out, I think I'll be good. I walk over to the large robot and take in all the work that I was going to need to do. Its a good thing I'm an engineer. Or this would be very difficult. 

Before I even started to work on the robot, I needed to draw up designs and get parts. With my engineering back round from my time in the military, I start to try and come up with something to power the giant. This process took me about a month and a half. The next month was building it. It was not easy. I don't know how many nights I spent awake on top of the giant. Just measuring and sizing and testing different materials. 

I didn't realize how much time had gone by after I completed the power source and buffing and cleaning the bot. It was over two months. The first time I decided I should probably take a break, like a real break. I'm surprised I haven't starved myself this whole time. When I'm getting into a project, its really hard for me to focus on anything else. I walk out of the shop and trudge over into my house. It used to be my family's home. I inherited it, after my parents died about 2 years ago. But I didn't actually move in until last year. I still had time left in the military at their time of death.

I make myself a quick sandwich and grab a root beer and head back out to the shop to keep working. I finish my sandwich, take a drink, then grab a cigarette. I look over my notes while I smoke. I got some welding to do yet and connecting of the wires to the power source yet to finish and that won't be easy. The welding is the last thing on my list to do. I just hope I still know how to. I haven't welded in awhile. I'm going to have to practice on some old metal first. This giant is going to look perfect. At least to me it will. I ain't got no one to show him off too. 

I think I'm going to say its a he. He's got the facial features and body type as one. So its a male. I wonder what I should name him. I think I'll decide that later after I get him working again. If I get him working. I sure hope this power source works. 

I finish up my cigarette and get back to work. I grab my safety goggles and gloves. Then I grab the tools I need and climb up on top of the giant. I quickly get to work. I don't know how many times I get shocked or stabbed or poked or something while working on this beast. All joining with the scars I already have. 

Then about 3-4 weeks later, I finish the last of my welding. I attach two sets of heavy duty jumper cables to the power source of him. Then I hook the other end to my mainframe. the place of all my power to generate enough electricity to start the robot. I grab the main lever and pull it down.

Light shines bright, sparks fly, shielding my eyes as to not get blinded. 

The next thing I know. The giant machine is sitting up in front of me. Moving its head around and arms. Looking at himself. He then starts to look around and spots me. 

"The rest is us getting to know one another. Learning each others names. He got mad at me a few times because he didn't have his weapons and couldn't transform. I worked hard on him. But I had no idea that he was going to be a transforming Decepticon." She finishes her story. 

Everyone looked at her in awe. Unsure what to say. They defiantly have questions, but none of them knew where to start. Ratchet had stopped working on Dreadwing, so they could listen to the story. Everyone was sitting around Shelby on the ground. And Shelby was sitting on a bunch of boxes, to sit a little higher so everyone could see her. She looked over at Dreadwing, a smile on her face. He looks back at her, giving her a small smile and nod of thanks. 

"How did you know what to do to try and bring him back?" Asks Raf, pushing his glasses up on his nose. Shelby looked down to him and smiled. 

"Like I said about trying to build a power core, I used to be a engineer in the military. I could build anything I set my mind too. I developed a lot of new weapons for the military. And I had worked on some robots they we're attempting to build for the war. So I had a general idea of what to do. Hooking everything together was the hard part." She explained to them. 

"So does he still have a spark or what?" Asked Miko looking over the blue and yellow con. 

"Um I'm not sure I can explain that one." Shelby stated looking over at Ratchet. 

This caused everyone else to look over at him. He had gone back to work. But when he heard his name, he looked back over. "As far as I can tell, his spark has seemed to fuse with the power source she built. I'm not sure how. But after giving him some energon. It seems not only will he need that to survive but he will need to somehow keep his core charged. I'm sure Shelby will know how to do that." He explained. It seemed to make sense to the Autobots and Shelby. But the kids still looked confused.

"I'm going to need a big battery." Shelby states staring up at Dreadwing. 

"How long do you think he might last on one charge?" Ratchet asks Shelby. Shelby gets up and walks over to him and Dreadwing. 

Putting a finger up to her lip, she says, "How I have the core set, it should hold a charge for over a week. But that was figuring He wasn't actually alive. Like he was just a simple robot. So putting that in the equation...I'd say maybe 3 days." She has one hand on her hip and her phone now in the other. She was doing some calculations on her Moto X phone with a American flag phone case. 

"How long has it been since you brought him back to life?" He asks. 

"Like an hour before y'all showed up." She answers in a sassy tone, putting her phone in her back pocket. "I got time to find a good way to charge him. As long as he doesn't do a lot of strenuous work." She said straight faced and looking straight at Dreadwing. Her look could paralyze you. If Dreadwing could transform right now. He would in a spark beat. 

"Your t-cog isn't damaged. Its the parts that were welded causing you unable to transform. So with that said, I'm going to have to go undo some of those welds without harming your knew power source." Ratchet explains taking is servo up to his face and rubbing his chin, while going into deep thought. 

"Did she weld my arms too? I couldn't bring out my blasters." Asks Dreadwing. 

"Yes I did. Your arms had some massive cuts from, I'm assuming, the fall and crashing into my land. So I welded them all back together. I didn't know that those were all movable." She said with guilt showing in her tone. she walks closer to Dreadwing, putting her hand on his foot.

"I'm sorry." She started but was cut off. 

"Don't be sorry, you brought me back. I was one with the allspark and now I get a second chance." Dreadwing said, he put his servo down for Shelby to climb up on. Then he brought her back up to his face. She hugged one of his digits.   
"  
Alright I need to get started with surgery." Ratchet interrupts. 

Dreadwing sets Shelby back on the ground and soon he is in stasis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where it switches for first person, its supposed to be in italics. That way you know its a memory she is reliving. Like I'm taking you back in time. Kinda. Well I can't figure out how to get it in italics. So I'm just going to say switches to first person, whenever its a memory.


	3. Take Flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ones dream is another's nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Warning*  
> Possible graphic content

*First person*  
The house is a huge 2 story 5-bedroom house. Way too big for one person. I only live on the first floor. I haven't even been up to the second story since I moved in. One, I didn't have much stuff to move in for the need to go up and second, I don't want to go up there. There is a nice porch that goes halfway around the house. White pillars holding the overhang up. The front door is a huge double oak door leading into the entry way. You always take your shoes off when you walk in. To the right is the living room, filled with old furniture that were my parents. A sleek black leather couch and loveseat. A Black oak side table next to each. There is a huge beautiful brick fireplace in front of the couches, one that hasn't burned wood in quite some time. The mantel holds pictures of family members and 2 black urns with some scriptures engraved in them. If you were to go to the left, you'd see a large black dining room table with 6 black chairs sitting around it and two more off to the side. It contrasted nicely with the white rooms. Pictures of Jesus and the virgin Mary hang on the walls facing the driveway. Mother was a very loyal Christian. The kitchen is next to the dining room, white cabinets hang around the room. Some having not been opened since I came home. There are black granite counter tops on top of all the white. Paper work takes up most of the countertops, as well as unread mail. There is a small island countertop on the middle of the kitchen. The only thing on it is a small vase filled with fake flowers. Roses to be exact, pink and red and white, my mother's favorite. Though she could keep real ones alive. I've never had a way with flowers like she did. 

If you were to go straight when you came in the front door, you would go up the stairs. But I haven't been up those stairs since before I left for the military. That was over 8 years ago. I don't even know what it looks like up there anymore. Walking around the stairs, through the dining room and the kitchen, there is two bedrooms in the back of the house. One I use as a bedroom and the other I turned into a study. In-between both rooms is the bathroom. It is a light blue accented with dark blue. The shower has a blue shower curtain. The tiles around the shower are white, light blue and dark blue. The toilet has a blue fuzzy cover. Then everything around the sink is blue or accented blue. Accept the sink itself, which was white. The study has a large mahogany desk. On top of the desk, is a black laptop, a vintage lamp, and paperwork scattered all over. There is a black leather chair sitting in front of the desk. There are two windows looking out the back of the land. Easily seeing the pastures, that have been empty and unkept for some time now. The old red barn is slowly falling apart. There is a giant hole in the roof now. There used to be horses and cows out there. But after I left, my parents decided they didn't want to keep them anymore. So, they slowly sold them over time. There are book shelves lining the ceiling. They start at the top of the windows and go up. I put them in after I got back home. I have a lot of books. Most were already here, but then I had a lot I brought back home. 

My bedroom has always been downstairs. It made it easier when I came home, not to have to go upstairs. It is a large room, not much in it. There is a queen size bed, with gray and pink bedding on it. The same bedding that has been on it since I left. After I left, my room was left untouched. My parents had no reason to go in there. They weren't too happy that I decided to leave. But Dad couldn't say too much, since he was also in the military, though only because he was drafted. My mom was more upset about it than he was. It made it easier to leave, with my dad on board with it. There was a small dresser to one side of the room. Then a matching bed side table. A small lamp sat near the wall on it, along with a clock. A gray hamper stood next to the closet, clothes slowly filling up inside.  
I was born in this home. Raised in it. I never left until I left for boot camp. I was the only one to leave. There were 7 of us kids. I was the youngest. The baby. Another reason why my parents didn't want me to leave. No one in the family did. But I was 18 and I decided I needed to get out of this small town. It was surprising my parents put the house in my name if they died. I didn't think I was that important. It didn't make sense since I was the one most likely to die before all my other siblings. What I didn't realize that I would be the only one left alive.

*Scene change*

I was at base when I first found out. I was at one of the armory's checking some weapon equipment I had designed. They had just been brought back from the range, being tested. I got a lot of good remarks on the new equipment. So, I was in a pretty good mood. Now I was just checking them to make sure they were cleaned properly and if they had sustained any damage. I had been in for about 4 years now. I just reenlisted and got assigned to start designing equipment instead of just building it or testing it. It took me 4 years to get to this point. I could not be more excited. My parents seemed to be happy for me, when I told them. They just asked if I could come home more. I hated going home. I was the only one to do something with their life instead of staying at the farm. Why would I want to go back? I never really had a good relationship with any of my siblings or my parents. But of course, I told them I would try. 

As I was in the middle of checking the second to last weapon, got a call from my Staff NCO, telling me to come to regiment immediately. I was very confused. I usually never had to go to regiment. But I did as I was told. I left the last two to one of the lances under me and ran out the building. I quickly made it to my truck and drove fast out of the parking lot. As I pulled into regiment parking, I barely had my truck in park as I jump out of the cab. I made my way in and almost ran into my SNCO. "SARGENT! Thank God your here. Come with me" He tells me. I follow him to the regimental CO's office. It must be something huge if I'm hearing it from the CO. I walk in behind my SNCO, the regimental CO, the company CO, my LT and one of the other Sgt's were standing by the desk. Though the regimental Co was sitting behind it. He was holding a piece of paper in his hand. He looked up quickly as he heard us walk into the room. 

"Sgt Bishop, you might want to take a seat." The regimental CO says to me. So, I do as I'm told and I take a seat in front of his desk. I'm nervous now. "I'm afraid I have bad news. And I'm not sure how to tell you this. But..."

*Scene change*

There I am, a week later, at the funeral home, before the actual funeral took place, looking down at a body. Not one body but two. My brothers. The two oldest in the family. You could barely recognize them. I barely listened when they told me how they died. From what I did hear, they were tortured. Why? I don't know. No one is really telling me to much. Probably because they don't know themselves. I'm standing there in my blues, next to me are the rest of my family. They are all in tears. I'm the only one not crying. I don't think I ever did cry for the loss. I knew I needed to stay strong. Especially for my parents. 

Fingers were missing. Each were missing an eye. Hair was missing from their scalps. Cuts and gashes and bruises covered their body's. It was a very hard sight to see. One of my brothers had a very large gash, from assuming a large knife, from the top of his thigh running down his leg to his foot. I can't imagine the pain he must of endured. There were rope burns around their wrist and ankles. Digging into their skin, leaving deep cuts. One of my brothers has rope burn around his neck. But the coroner doesn't know if hanging was how he died or blood loss. Their faces didn't look like them anymore. Covered in cuts that haven't been able to properly heal. Black and blue circles formed around their eye sockets.

I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, but most of all, I wanted to find who did this.

That's the last thing I see.... Then I wake up.

*Third person*

She sat up fast, causing herself to get dizzy for a few second. She was panting, breathing hard and heavy. She felt as though she just relived that moment. She brings her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them. Not realizing where she was at that moment. Until she heard a voice come next to her. 

"Shelby, are you okay? You were acting weird." She looks over and sees Ratchet, looking at her with worry in his optics. 

That's when she realizes that she is laying on the yellow couch in the secret base of the Autobots. She turns away from Ratchet, moving her legs down off the couch. Her elbows on her knees and hands covering her face. Trying to wipe away the tears that were forming. 

"Shelby?" Ratchet asks again. 

"I'm fine, just a bad dream." She says without looking at him. 

"How's Dreadwing?" She asks standing up and finally looking at Ratchet. 

"He's in recharge still. It’s the middle of the night, you should go back to sleep." He suggests to the girl. She shakes her head.

"Can I sit next to him?" she asks her eyes pleading to him.

She felt she needed to be near him. Afraid she might have to rebuild him. Even though she only just brought him to life again. She did spend 3 months repairing him. She needed to protect him. Even if he was a giant dangerous Decepticon. Everyone kept telling her to be cautious around him. That he was very dangerous. She has yet to see that side, besides the few times he was scared and yelled at her. 

"I don't think that's a good idea, if he wakes and doesn't remember right away who you are, he might hurt you." says Ratchet cautiously looking over at the sleeping giant. 

"He won't hurt me." She says confidence ringing though her voice. 

"And how do you know that?" The doc scoffs putting his servos on his hips. 

"Because I just know." She looks him straight in the optic. He scoffs again but brought his servo up for her to get on. Then he carried her over to Dreadwing and let her get off on top of him. She sat down on his armor that was covering his new power source. Her knees to her chest. Head resting on them.  
Before Ratchet could leave. "Ratchet?" Shelby calls. 

"Yes?" He asks. 

"Why are you awake?" She asks the medic. He thinks about it before he answers her. 

"I don't usually recharge well anymore. And I was checking on Dreadwing. That's when I started to hear you talking in your sleep." He says turning back to her. 

She sat up straight. "What did I say?" Fear could be heard in her voice. 

"It was pretty mumbled. But you did scream no, and I heard don't cry. a few times." Ratchet shrugged. Shelby seemed to relax as he talked. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" He tone lower than before, moving closer to her. 

"No!" She says immediately. He backs up in defense. 

"Sorry, it’s just not something I like to talk about." She explains quickly. 

"I understand. I am going to try and recharge. I will talk to you in the morning." He tells her and walked off down the hall.

"Just you and me again Dreadwing. I didn't realize how lonely I was until I found you. I'm glad I did find you. I hope you don't go back to Megatron." She whispers to Dreadwing as he recharges. She didn't think he was listening, but with her head down, she doesn't see him peek at her and smile.

It was morning now, Shelby was found asleep on top of Dreadwing's chassis. Dreadwing had woken up fully now, and Ratchet was up scanning him. Both trying not to wake up the sleeping women. 

"How is he doing this morning?" Asks Optimus as he rounded the corner, clearly not seeing the sleeping form on Dreadwing. 

"Shhhhh." Both Ratchet and Dreadwing shush Optimus. He backs up in surprise. Ratchet walks to one of the monitors and then he was able to see her. 

"Oh, I'm sorry." Optimus reply's in a whisper. 

He then walks off to talk to some of the others at the other side of the base. They were yelled at too, so they decided to keep a good distance away.

'This femme must never get to sleep. She's been asleep on me for a while now. Hope she's okay.' Dreadwing thought to himself. 

Then the women then seemed to stir in her sleep. Letting out a small groan in the process. She is curled up in a ball. Her knees to her chest and her hands under her head as a makeshift pillow. She looks so peaceful. But yet uncomfortable. Dreadwing laid his helm back down on the berth. He's neck getting stiff from looking down at her. Not too long after he felt her move, he looks up and sees her sitting up. She looks over at him. 

"That was the best sleep I've had since the last time I got to sleep in a fox hole in afghan." She yawned as she stood up to stretched. "You know you’re really warm for a metal being." She added. 

Dreadwing just looked at her. He is unsure of what to say to what she had said. Though he did have one question. "What is this fox hole you said you had to recharge in?" 

She slides down his torso onto his leg as he slowly sits up, almost like she was snowboarding down a mountain of snow. 

"It is a hole dug into the ground, just enough to lay down into." He looks at her baffled. 

"Why would you want to recharge in a hole in the ground?" 

She stares up at him and giggled. "Sometimes you got to do what you got to do." is all she said.

He was still confused, but just nodded. She sat down on his knee looking out over the base. She had one knee up and her hands cupped around it. The other leg dangling over Dreadwing's knee. Ratchet and Optimus notice that the girl and con were up. So, they made their way over. 

"Will I be able to transform now?" Dreadwing wonders to the doc bot. 

"You should be able too. But let’s start small, try and transform your servo." Ratchet tells him. Dreadwing started stand up, which made Shelby have to jump off. 

"Whoa!!" She yells as she jumps. Expecting to land on the ground, instead a huge metal hand brought itself under her and was able to catch her before she hit the ground. She stands up and looks up at Optimus, who had been the one to catch her. Before she could say thanks, she is grabbed away. 

"I apologize Shelby, I forgot you were sitting there." Dreadwing exclaims holding her in his servo up to his face. 

"It’s okay, it wasn't too big of a jump, so I wasn't too worried. Thank you for the save, Optimus." She shoots to Optimus, who nods in return.

Dreadwing put Shelby on top of his shoulder, after giving Optimus a glare. He had hoped Shelby didn't see it, but she did, and she can't understand why he did that. She will have to remember to ask him later. Dreadwing put his eye on the task at hand, to see if he could transform again. Everyone has gathered around Dreadwing. Everyone staring at him. A feeling of nausea comes over him. Shelby noticed this and put a hand on his cheek plate, trying to be comforting. He looks to the side at her, not trying to show emotion. She doesn't need him to acknowledge her, he just needed to know she was there. He looks forward and focuses on his servo. The room falls silent as everyone focuses on the con. Then with one swift movement, his servo is now a blaster. The look on his face says it all. His eyes wide in surprise, but the best part was his smile. It was huge, he was staring down at his blaster with the biggest smile on his face. So much for being an evil con. Now it is time to test the bigger transformation.

"Good job, old friend." Optimus says to Ratchet putting a servo on his shoulder. They watch as Dreadwing kept transforming his servo into a blaster and back.

"Now you’re able to go where ever you want." Shelby says, almost too quiet no one could hear. 

"I still have to see if I can transform into my jet mode." He explains looking at her. He can see some sadness in her eyes. She was kind of hoping Ratchet wouldn't be able to fix him. But she didn't want to keep him from being who he is, at the same time. 

"We shall take you up to the roof." Optimus says. 

The other bots and humans back out of the way and follow Optimus up to the elevator that goes to the upper flight deck. They go up to the elevator. 

"Wow, the view is amazing! Though I'm not sure how you guys can stand living in such a sandy place. Ugh it reminds me of Afghan." Shelby says with a shudder.

"Alright, let’s do this." yells Miko from a top of Bulkheads shoulder. 

Shelby and Raf can't help but giggle a little. Everyone backed up away from Dreadwing. To make sure he had enough room. Shelby had been put into Optimus's servo, much to Dreadwing's delight. She stood, hugging one of Optimus's digits, leaning out so she can see. Dreadwing looks over one last time before his attempt. He looked away, closed his eyes, and concentrated. He does a quick jump and in another swift movement, he's transforms into a military jet, a V-tol. Shelby can't help but stare at him in awe as he hovered in the air. Then as fast as he had transformed into a jet, he transformed back. 

"I have my wings back." he exclaims. 

Shelby is the only one to cheer for him. The others have worry written on their faces. Optimus, the only one not showing any emotion, is the first to speak up. 

"Now that you have your wings back, where will you go?" He asks, stepping up to Dreadwing, Shelby still in his servo. Dreadwing looked down at the women.

He takes one last look at her, then transformed. He was gone before she could even scream his name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First person is Shelby dreaming  
> Third person back to present


	4. Screamer comes to visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The feeling of home isn't home without shooting some rounds down range.

Shelby is in shock. 

She can't believe after bringing him back to life, that he would leave. She is still sitting in Optimus's servo after they went back down into base. He didn't dare put the shocked female down. He felt that this was his fault. Because now that they don't know where he went, something could happen to him and if Dreadwing went back to Megatron. He could or would tell him where their base was. His team is now in grave danger. Everyone sits in silence waiting for their leader to speak. Ratchet stands by the computers attempting to get Dreadwing signal. 

Everyone thought the Prime would be the first to speak. "I think I should go home." Shelby spoke silently. 

Optimus, being the only one who heard her words, while everyone jumped in surprise to hear her voice, "I don't think you should go home. The Decepticons know of your home and could target it." Optimus expresses to her with concern. 

"Then I need to go home. I need to protect it." She stands now, determination written on her face. 

"And how do you plan on protecting it. You to small to face a con." scowls Ratchet from over at the computers. 

"Hey Sunshine, you don't know me. And you obviously didn't see me shoot that purple con, he jetted out of there pretty fast." She yells to him. 

Everyone staring back and forth from Ratchet to Shelby. Miko and Bulkhead were laughing, Everyone but Shelby knew why. 

"Hahaha Sunshine." Miko giggled out.

Ignoring her, Ratchet speaks again, "You just got lucky. You think that measly weapon will be able to do that again?" 

He struts over to her, Optimus brings her in closer to his chest. Both growling at each other. 

"Ratchet, Shelby that's enough!" Optimus booming voice halts everything. Everything becomes dead silent. 

After a few minutes of silence, and the angry two still staring at each other, both seem to be arguing with their eyes, Optimus breaks the contact. Taking his servo and moving it up high out of Ratchets eye sight. Ratchet scoffs and walks back over the computers. 

Without turning around, he scorns, "Let her go back, apparently she can battle cons better than us." 

"Ratchet." Optimus warned. And again there is silence. Except maybe from the quiet whispering of Bulkhead and Miko. 

"Can you please bring me down now?" Shelby asks looking down from on top of Optimus's servo. He quickly brings it down. "All the way down please. I need to go home." She says looking at Optimus. 

She jumped off of Optimus's servo. "I can't force you to stay here. But I would like Smokescreen to go with you." He professes to her just before setting her down on the ground. 

"I get a human!" Smokescreen exclaims jumping up and down. 

"No, I will be fine." She concludes to Optimus but is looking at Smokescreen. Smokescreen notices her glare and immediately stops and puts a serious face on. 

"Please, if you won't stay here. Let one of my Autobots go with you. I can't let any harm come to a human. Especially with skills to revive our species." Optimus says in almost a begging tone. She looks down for a moment, thinking.

"Fine, but does Smokescreen have to come with me. He's so childish." She asks him. 

"Hey! I'm a warrior." He steps up to her. Shelby scoffs him off. Arcee and Jack stood in the back shaking their heads, while Bulkhead and Miko were still snickering to themselves. 

"He is the only one besides Ratchet and I who isn't already guarding a human. And I can't go and neither can Ratchet." Optimus explains, kneeling down to her level. 

"Maybe Wheeljack can do it." Bulkhead speaks up from where he stood. 

"Whos Wheeljack?" She wonders looking over at him and the small girl. 

"He's a wrecker, just like Bulk and I. He is awesome. You will get along with him great." Said Miko excitedly. Shelby raised her eyebrow at her. 

"Pfft, Wheeljack will get her blown up within a day of being with her...Actually sounds like a good idea." Ratchet noted the last part quietly, but not quiet enough. 

"Well fuck you too!" Shelby points her middle finger up to him. 

"Children!" yells Arcee. 

"If they are battling with giants, I think they can handle a little swearing." Shelby snaps. Jack nods his head, but the look he gave Arcee made him shake his head no. Shelby simply rolled her eyes. 

"Okay time for me to go." She declares walking towards the ground bridge. 

"Who's going with me? Smokescreen or this Wheeljack guy?" She asks stopping just before the bridge. 

"Smokescreen will go with you for now. If we come in get in contact with Wheeljack, we will send him to you." Says Optimus. 

"Good to go sir." She salutes him and gives him a smile, one he returned. 

"Ratchet set the ground bridge to Shelby's home coordinates." 

"Gladly" Ratchet whispers to himself. 

"I heard that!" She calls back while walking closer to the ground bridge, Smokescreen at her heels. The green and blue vortex opened up, Shelby still couldn't believe this technology. 

"Alright Smokes, lets go." She gives one last goodbye and walks though. 

"Later, gators." Smokescreen chuckles to them. Happy he is able to leave base and guard a human.

Once on the other side of the ground bridge, Shelby takes off towards her shop. Smokescreen right on her tail. 

"So what are we going to do? What do you do around here? Where are you going? Is this where you brought that con back to life?" He is speaking fast, Shelby can barely keep up. 

"Quiet!" She snarls up to him. He shuts up and backs away a little. "You are going to stay quiet, while I clean my weapons. And yes this is where I brought Dreadwing back." 

She emphasizes Dreadwing's name. Unsure of the reason, she just didn't want him to be called a con. She still hopes he will return to her. 

"Well that sounds boring." Smokescreen states, leaning against the wall. 

Shelby decides to ignore him and startes to take out a few weapons out of her arsenal. She laying them down carefully, setting them in a neat order. Smokescreen stares at the weapons she's laid out, wanting to know what they were. 

'Maybe if I stay quiet, I can get answers out of her later. She sure is bossy.' He thinks to himself. Before she sat down to start cleaning, she hooked her phone up to a auxiliary cord attached to a speaker. Rise by State of Mind began to play. 

"I won't just survive  
Oh, you will see me thrive  
can't write my story  
I'm beyond the archetype

I won't just conform  
No mater how you shake my core  
'Cause my roots, they run deep, oh

Oh, ye of so little faith  
Don't doubt it, don't doubt it  
Victory is in my veins  
I know it, I know it  
And I will not negotiate  
I'll fight it, I'll fight it  
I will transform

When, when the fires at my feet again  
And the vultures all start circling   
They're whispering, "you're out of time"  
But still I rise

This is no mistake, no accident  
When you think the final nail is in  
Think again  
Don't be surprised   
I will still rise

I must stay conscious  
Through the madness and chaos  
So I call on my angels  
They say

Oh, ye of so little faith  
Don't doubt it, Don't doubt it  
Victory is in your veins  
You know it, you know it  
And you will not negotiate  
Just fight it, just fight it  
And be transformed

'Cause when, when the fire's at my feet again  
And the vultures all start circling  
They're whispering, "You're out of time,"   
But still I rise

This is no mistake, no accident  
When you think the final nail is in  
Think again  
Don't be surprised   
I will still rise

Don't doubt it, don't doubt it  
Oh, oh, oh  
You know it, you know it  
Still rise  
Just fight it, just fight it  
Don't be surprised  
I will still rise"

The song ends; Shelby is still cleaning her weapons. She finished her pistol and is on to a bigger weapon. She has it all disassembled, and the parts all laid neatly on the table. She is so focused on her work, she almost forgets Smokescreen is there, watching intently as she works. And just like the last song, she sings the next one too.

"Oh dear mother, I love you  
I'm sorry, I wasn't good enough  
Dear father, forgive me  
'Cause in your eyes, I just never added up  
In my heart I know I failed you, but you left me here alone

If I could hold back the rain, would you numb the pain?  
'Cause I remember everything.  
If I could help you forget, would you take my regrets?  
'Cause I remember everything.

Oh, dear brother, just don't hate me  
For never standing by you or being by your side  
Dear, sister, please don't blame me  
I only did what I thought was truly right  
Its a long and lonely road, when you know you walk alone

If I could hold back the rain, would you numb the pain?  
'Cause I remember everything.  
If I could help you forget, would you take my regrets?  
'Cause I remember everything.

I feel like running away  
I'm still so far from home  
You say that I'll never change   
But what the fuck do you know?  
I'll burn it all the to the ground before I let you in  
Please forgive me, I can't forgive you now.  
I remember everything.

If I could hold back the rain, would you numb the pain?  
'Cause I remember everything.  
If I could help you forget, would you take my regrets?  
'Cause I remember everything.

It all went by so fast  
I still can't change the past  
I always will remember everything  
If we could start again,  
Would that have changed the end?  
We remember everything,   
Everything."

Smokescreen notices a lone tear on Shelby's face before she quickly wipes it away. 

He wonders why. 'What had happened to her, to make this song bring a tear?' 

He opens his mouth to ask, but quickly closes it. It wasn't his business to ask. The next song starts playing but this time Shelby is just humming along. He takes this as his chance to ask about her weapons. 

"What kind of weapons are those?" He questions her. 

She looks up with surprise on her face, as if no ones ever asked her before. "Oh, well the one I'm cleaning now is a M16A2 5.56 rifle. This was my rifle my entire enlistment as well as I used it in Afghanistan." She shows him the disassembled weapon in her lap. 

"The pistol I finished cleaning over here, is a Smith and Wesson MP Shield. It's my favorite. I carry this baby on me at all times." Her face seems to light up as she talks about it  
.   
She continues to tell him about her weapons. It seems to make her happy to talk about them. She also explained a lot of the upgrades she had designed for some of them, and was still able to use. Smokescreen is sitting cross-legged in front of her. Paying close attention to the women. Shelby for that moment, forgot all about Dreadwing and him leaving. Smokescreen is thrilled he is able to make her happy. He had never seen a human so excited about weapons before. They were so zoned into their conversation and story telling, that they didn't hear the sound of giant footsteps outside the shop. 

The footsteps near the sound of Shelby's and Smokescreens voices. The sound of a weapon unsheathing is heard. Shelby brings her head up quickly and looks up outside. 

"Who are you?" She curses, standing up fast. She has her pistol in her hand faster than Smokescreen could stand up. 

"I asked you a question." She yells louder, pointing her weapon at him. 

Smokescreen has yet to say anything. Unsure if he should intervine with the confrontation. The white bot stood in a warrior stance, his katanas pointed at the girl. He has a face shield covering his mouth. He has a red and green V on his torso, and red and green accenting along his body. 

"Smokescreen has Wheeljack arrived?" Optimus asks over the comm. 

"Yeah he just showed up." He coms back. Hearing this, both Shelby and Wheeljack put their weapons down. Wheeljack pulls his face shield back. 

"So your Smokescreen." Wheeljack puts his katanas back behind his back. Shelby still has her weapon in her hand, but it is lowered. 

"Yes and this is Shelby." Smokescreen introduces to him, then he turns to Shelby, "Its okay he's an Autobot." 

Shelby gave Wheeljack a unconvinced look, but still put her weapon away. Wheeljack kneels down to get closer to Shelby.

"Don't worry I'm a Autobot. I just don't always follow Primes rules." He points out to her.

What he said seemed to appease her. She wasn't always one to follow rules. Especially when she first got into the military. As she got higher in rank, she calmed down with her antics and became more responsible. She had Marines to lead, and very sensitive equipment to take care of. 

"Smokescreen please head back to base." They hear Optimus say. 

"Roger that, sir" Smokescreen coms back. 

"See you later, Shelby. Take care of her, Wheeljack. She's a feisty one." He chuckles before he heading through the ground bridge. 

"Feisty ye? Bulkhead told me a little about you. But lets hear it from you." He suggests to her, flashing a smile. All she does is turn around and gesture for him to follow. He follows her into the shop, where she sits down to finish cleaning her weapons and explain everything to him. 

*Time skip*

"And I had a argument with Mr. Sunshine, the medic, but was able to convince Prime to let me go home. And that's where you come in." She finishes her story to the wrecker. He has been listening intently the whole time. He gave a small chuckle when she said sunshine. Still, She didn't know why. She doesn't really care enough to ask. 

"So wanna go shoot some guns?" She stands up with her M16 resting on her hip and a magazine in her hand. Wheeljack puts a smirk on his face. 

"After you." He smiles, bowing and gesturing towards the door. 

She curtsies back, "Thank you." She says with a smirk and starts to walk out. She puts her weapons on the back of her ATV and hops on. 

"We are going to the back part of my property. So we don't have to worry about shooting the house. And I got a range set up back there." She explains turning to him. 

"Keep up." She shouts quick before driving off, leaving Wheeljack in the dust. He transforms and raced off after her. 

He quickly catches up to her. Being a race car it was no problem. She looks behind and saw that he has caught up. She almost went off the trail staring in awe at his alt mode. He notices and starts to laugh, using it to his advantage. Thus, this makes her come back to her senses and look forward. 

"Ahhh!" She shrieks bringing the ATV back on course, away from the tree she almost hit. She can't help but laugh out loud. They start heading into the woods, sunlight shines though the trees that hang overhead. They are both practically flying though the air, from going so fast and hitting some of the small hills that came up from the uneven ground. A shadow blocks out the sun from above, causing Shelby and Wheeljack to skid to a stop. Wheeljack almost hitting Shelby in the process. Wheeljack jumps into bot mode, katanas at the ready. The shadow flies forward, sending light back over the two on the ground. 

"What was that?" Shelby asks, her breathing heavy as she stands up on the ATV, pistol pointed towards the sky. They watch the shadow fly off. 

"I don't know, But I don't like it." Wheeljack grunts. 

"Lets move" She orders. 

Putting the pistol back in the holster and driving off. Wheeljack at her heels. They come to a clearing. Able to see the shadow much better. It is a jet, but not just any jet.

"Dreadwing?" Shelby questions hopefully. 

The jet comes down closer to the earth. Shelby races to where she thought it would land. It then transforms right before it hit the ground. Wheeljack rushes in front of her, proceeding to shield his face. She can't see now. 

"Stay behind me. That's not Dreadwing." He yells over his shoulder to her. And of course, she doesn't listen. She drives up beside him, pulling her M16 of the back of the ATV and pointing it at the con. Now getting a better look. She can definitely see that it is not Dreadwing. 

"There are female cons?" She asks Wheeljack. It takes all of his will power to not laugh. 

The feminine like con scoffs in disgust at the human. "I am a mech, you disgusting fleshling." scolds the con. 

A tall, skinny, and different colors of gray, mech stands in front of them. He pointing his arm at them, that carried a red missile. "

Well maybe you should find new shoes then. Those high heels you got there give people to wrong opinion. Unless your a drag queen?" She questions to him with a smirk riding on her lips. 

Wheeljack can't hold his laughter in anymore. Starscream looks at them in confusion. Not knowing what a drag queen was. He would have to look it up later, he thought to himself. After laughing for a few minutes, Starscream starts to get more angry. 

"Enough!" He snaps to them. Keeping his missile pointed to them. The two stopped and pointed their weapons back at him.

"What do you want Starscream?" Wheeljack called out to him. 

"I think you know what I want." He says looking at the girl with the M16 pointed right between his optics. 

"Not gonna happen, screamer." Wheeljack spats at him. 

"Megatron wants the human who can bring Cybertronian's back to life. She will be a good asset to our ranks. I will not leave here empty handed." Just as Starscream finishes, he shoots off his missile at the two. 

They both jump out of the way as it hit the woods behind them. Shelby rolls and immediately got up and starts shooting the con. Wheeljack starts do the same. Starscream isn't sure who to go for. He is to busy trying to dodge the bullets being shot at him. Shelby is making sure to aim in between his armor. 

Starscream soon decides he needs to make Megatron happy. He goes for the fleshling. Shelby dodges him easily. 

"I need back up!" Starscream roars though his comm.

He starts fighting with Wheeljack, after Wheeljack jumped in front of the con while Starscream was running after Shelby. Shelby stops a few feet away, turned around and started to try and shoot, without hitting Wheeljack. She is slowly backing up, as they were moving forward. But she then backs into something. Lowering her weapon, she feels the metal wall behind her with her other hand. She slowly looks up. It is a giant purple con and its weapon is pointed straight at her. 

"Don't shoot her, Megatron wants her alive. Grab her and go!" Starscream roars while trying to fight off Wheeljack. 

There is no way Shelby is going to get captured by these freaks. She starts to dodge servos coming down at her. She feels like she is running though a mortar field. She flung her weapon over her back, holding the sling, and ran as fast as she could. She knows she doesn't have time to try and shoot them. They are to fast for her. As quickly as she could, she ran to her ATV and drives off. Wheeljack knocks out Starscream and goes after the drones following after Shelby.

Just as she pulls out to the open field, she takes a quick look back. Wheeljack has finished off the drones. She slows down and turns the ATV around and drives up to him. 

"Holy shit!" She yells up to him. 

They are both panting, trying to gain their breath. Not noticing the con behind them. Starscream shoots at Wheeljack, knocking him out immediately. Shelby looks up at the high heeled drag queen, showing no fear or any emotion at all. Her hand on her hip, pulling her pistol out. She knows she won't be able to get a good hit in with the pistol. The bullets she has are only for practice. She would have to get closer to do any real damage. Starscream has a missile aimed at her. 

"It will be much easier, if you just surrender and come with me." He hints to her, smirking. 

"In your dreams." She sneeres.

Before he could do anything else, the sounds of heavy metal feet land behind the women. She doesn't dare turn around, as already seeing Screamers face. He looks like he is about to pass out, in fear.

"RETREAT!!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lyrics are not mine. They belong to the respective Artist.  
> Rise by State of mind   
> Remember Everything by Five Finger Death Punch


	5. Right here

Screamer and the drones that didn't die, flew off. Shelby watched as they flew, making sure they didn't turn back. Then she immediately went to Wheeljack, but not before looking at her hero. The sun was shining on his blue and golden frame. Making him almost look like an angel. He is holding a large sword in his hand, staring up at the sky. Realizing there are eyes on him, he looks down. A guilty look forms on his face plate. Shelby slowly walks closer to him, unsure of how to feel. Pissed off or happy. 

"Dreadwing?" She questions. She wanting to make sure this is real and not just a figment of her imagination. 

"It is I, Shelby." He says attempting to smile. 

She wants to hug him, but at the same time shoot him. She thought for a moment. Then before Dreadwing could take in what was about to happen, She brought her pistol up and shot him in the leg. Knowing well that is won't pierce his armor. Just a small dent she can easily fix and give him a small sting. She then turns and runs over to Wheeljack, while Dreadwing hisses in pain. 

Wheeljack groans and rolls on to his back. "You okay, Wheeljack?" Shelby asks him, inspecting his injuries as he sat up. 

"Nothing I can't handle." He chuckles to her. 

He has yet to notice Dreadwing. Dreadwing got over the pain by now, and is growling lowly as he watches Shelby interact with the wrecker. Wheeljack stands up and sees that Shelby is staring at something. 

"What the frag is he doing here?" Wheeljack hisses. Staring the ex-con down. The ex-con doing the same. 

"You came back? Or did you go back to Megatron and are here to take me to him?" Shelby walks up to him, her arms crossed. He kneels down to get closer to her. 

"I mearly went to retrive me weapons. I am sorry I didn't tell you. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. So, I just took off." He explains, not looking at her. He can't. He feels guilty. Though he didn't understand why. But he feels the need to make it up to her. 

Wheeljack puts his face shield on, and a hand over his grenade that is on his belt. "Shelby back away!" He roars, attempting to move in front of her. 

"No!" She yells, running in front of Wheeljack with her hands up, trying stop him. 

"He's a con!" He argues. 

"He didn't go back to Megatron, I'd say he's a ex con." She argues back. Her hands on her hips. 

Dreadwing puts his sword on his back and starts to back up a bit. Wheeljack eyes him down. Glaring, intimidating him. 

"Wheeljack" Shelby growls his name, crossing her arms and staring him down. 

"Well looks like you don't need me anymore." Just like that Wheeljack transformed into his alt mode and sped off. 

"Wait! Wheeljack!" She yells, hopping on her ATV and racing after him. 

Even though she knew she wouldn't be able to catch up. Dreadwing follows, transforming and flying overhead. He flew until he was in front of Wheeljack. Before Wheeljack could hit the road, Dreadwing lands in front of him. Stopping him in his tracks. 

"Get out of my way, con" Wheeljack sneers though his alt mode. 

"Wheeljack!" Shelby pants as she drifts to a stop in between him and Dreadwing. "Please, you heard my story. I brought him back. And he didn't go to Megatron. That's got to count for something." She pleads to him. 

Dreadwing stays behind his savor, not daring to speak. She was right, though. He didn't go back to Megatron. He chose to come back to her. He wasn't sure why, but he felt he had to come back. He also didn't want to be offlined again. 

"Please Wheeljack. At least let Prime know that he came back." She continues to plead. 

Wheeljack transforms and put his finger up to his comm, "Wheeljack to base" 

"Come in Wheeljack." answers Ratchet.

"Dreadwing has returned." He says with the sound of disappointment in his voice. 

"Make sure he stays there, Optimus will want to speak to him." Ratchet makes clear. 

"Roger that doc." He smirks into the comm. 

"Don't call me Doc!" Ratchet yells back before disconnecting. Both Shelby and Wheeljack snicker. Dreadwing gives a low grunt. 

"Well you heard him, stay here." Wheeljack orders, transforming again and driving off. 

This time Shelby doesn't stop him. She looks down to the ground. 'I hope he comes back.' She thinks to herself. She shakes her head and looks up at Dreadwing. 

"Come on lets fix that dent." She tells him. Then the both of them walking into the garage.

Neither of them spoke while she popped out the dent. There was nothing to say. Shelby was still disapointed that he had left. But she is happy that he came back. Now she can protect him. Even though it will probably be the other way around. Which both don't seem to mind. As she was finishing up, a ground bridge was heard in the distance. Heavy footsteps are heard coming out of it. The two got up and walk out of the garage to meet the bots coming though. 

"Hey Optimus." Shelby waves up to the blue and red leader. Dreadwing picks her up off the ground and sets her on his shoulder. Almost seeming out of jealousy of the Prime. 

"Jesus Dread, a little warning next time." She hisses in his audio receptor. He doesn't reply, just puts his head down. Seeing this, she puts her hand on his cheek.

"Dreadwing, where did you go?" Optimus asks him. 

"Not to Megatron, if that's what your getting at. I mearly went to retrieve my weapons." Dreadwing bows his head to Optimus. 

"That is good to hear. I recal asking you before, will you join the Autobots." Optimus brings his hand out to the ex-Decepticon. 

"And I've told you before. Betraying the decepticons is not equal with joining you. I will become a nutural. I know Megatron will be looking for me. And he already had Starscream come and try and take Shelby." He explains to Optimus. 

"Then you both should come with us. You will both be protected at our base." 

No one said anything for a while. Shelby didn't want to leave her home. But she already seen what the decepticons are willing to do. 

"I'm sorry but I can't leave my home. I just can't." She says almost to quiet to hear. 

"You'll change your mind the next time Megatron sends troops to come get you, and this time destroying everything in its path." Arcee explains, hands on her hips. 

"Wheeljack and I did just fine, thank you very much." Shelby points out to her. 

"Hey where is Jackie?" Asks Bulkhead. Shelby looks away. Disappointed that Wheeljack had left. 

"He left." Shelby says. 

"Oh" Bulkhead says sadly. 

"I'm sure he will end up meet us back at base, Bulk." Arcee says softly to her saddened friend. 

"I am sorry for Wheeljack leaving. I believe he only left because of me." Dreadwing apologizes looking at Bulkhead. 

"Well of course its your fault!" Yells Bulkhead, stepping in front of the other bots and over to Dreadwing. 

"Bulk, its not just his fault, its mine too. I don't think he liked me defending him." Shelby defends. Bulkhead looked at her. Anger could be seen in his eyes. 

"This will be hard for all of use to get used too. But we need to look on the Brightside that Dreadwing didn't go back to Megatron." Optimus's voice rang over everyone. 

"I will not force you to come back with us. But I do ask that you think it over." He continues. Shelby looked at him and nodded. She understood the risks she was taking but she is not ready to leave her home.

"Ratchet, please open the ground bridge." Optimus says into his comm. 

The ground bridge opens up. Arcee and Bulkhead run though without looking back. Before the Prime stepped though, he looks back at the two. Shelby gives him a small wave goodbye. 

"We shall see each other again." He says before stepping though the swirling green and blue vortex. 

After the bridge closed, Shelby shifts so she has her legs up on Dreadwings shoulders and her back leaning against his neck and helm. He turns and walks into the garage. 

"Why did you really come back Dreadwing?" The finally relaxing human asks the big bad con. 

"What do you mean?" He wonders. 

"You have your wings back, you can go anywhere in the world and you come back to my tiny home in the middle of nowhere." 

Dreadwing picks her up off his shoulder and places her on his hand to look at her better. "I knew Megatron was gonna be coming after you. I know he's going to come after me. He sent Soundwave, but you got rid of him. Which amazed me...I mean it was very well done." He quickly looks away.

Shelby saw hints of blue reaching his cheeks. 'Is he blushing?' She wonders to herself. She thought that it is the cutest thing ever. "Well it means a lot to me that you came back." She tells him with a smile on her face. 

They continued to talk for the next few hours. It was starting to get late and Shelby hadn't showered in at least 3 days. She wasn't sure. So much had happened, that she couldn't remember if she had ate either. 

"As much as I'd love to continue to chat. I need to shower. I probably smell like horse shit." She says standing up. Dreadwing lowers her to the ground where she hops off. 

"I'll be right back. Make yourself at home." She insures to him as she runs off to the house. And Dreadwing chose to do just that, make himself at home.

*in the shower*

Get this night off right  
And turn the bass up  
Blow my ear drums up  
Just like a firetruck  
Get this night off right  
And turn the bass up,  
Yeah, I like it loud  
I like it loud

You know I like it loud  
Can't hear a fucking sound  
My ears are ringing now  
Cause that's how we get down  
Now move your body do the rhythm can set you free  
Another round and we can drown out our heats beating  
Just like a drug I let the music set me free  
I like it loud, I like it loud.

Get this night off right  
And turn the bass up  
Blow my ear drums up  
Just like a firetruck  
Get this night off right  
And turn the bass up,  
Yeah, I like it loud  
I like it loud

Shaking through your legs, the way the sub drops  
Feel it in your chest, the way your heart stops  
Get this night off right  
And turn the bass up,  
Yeah, I like it loud  
I like it loud

Now move your body, so the rhythm can set you free  
Another round, and we can drown out our hearts beating  
Just like a drug, I let the music set me free  
I like it loud, I like it loud  
I like it loud, I like it loud

You know I like it loud  
Can't hear a fucking sound  
My ears are ringing now  
Cause that's how we get down  
And turn the bass up  
Bass up, Bass up  
And turn the bass up  
Bass up, bass up

Get this night off right  
And turn the bass up  
Blow my eardrums up  
Just like a firetruck  
Get this night off right  
And turn the bass up  
Yeah, I like it loud  
I like it loud

Shaking though your legs, the way the sub drops  
Feel it in your chest, the way your heart drops  
Get this night off right  
And turn the bass up  
Yeah, I like loud  
I like it loud  
Yeah, I like it loud  
I like it loud

Now move your body, so the rhythm can set you free  
Another round, and we can drown out our heats beating  
Just like a drug, I let the music set me free  
I like it loud, I like it loud  
I like it loud, I like it loud  
Yeah, I like it loud, I like it loud

Shelby's voice can be heard throughout the silent house, with no one else inside to push it into the back round. This was a normal occurrence in the house. Shelby loved to sing, so she sang everywhere while in the house. No one is there to stop her. She finishes up in the shower, and puts on her black skinny jeans, black and red flannel with a black tank top underneath, and her black leather knee high boots. She puts her long brown hair up in a high ponytail. She loves the way it feels swishing behind her as she walks. Into the kitchen, she makes herself a quick sandwich for dinner with her favorite drink, Smirnoff Ice green apple. Not the best thing to eat, but she wants to get back out the Dreadwing as fast as she can. Her food in hand, and drink under her arm, she walks outside to the garage, where Dreadwing is waiting patiently for her. 

"I'm back" She sings walking through the door. 

"Took you long enough." He scoffs sarcastically to her. 

"Hey its not easy looking this good." She puts her arms out the side and motions to herself with her food and drink in hands. 

He raises an eyebrow to her and she just smiles up to him. She walks over to the couch and sits down. Then opens her drink and takes a swig. 

"What is that smell?" Dreadwing's face seemed to scrunch up from the smell of Shelby's drink. 

She laughs, "It is an alcoholic beverage. And I don't know how you think it smells but It smells like apples. and it tastes delicious." She explains taking another sip. 

"What do you mean by alcoholic?" He wonders. 

"Its an intoxicating beverage made of natural fermentation of sugars, ethanol. Its usually something drunk during times of celebration or just socializing with others. As well as impairs you, depending on how much you drink." She tells him, stuffing her sandwich in her face. 

"How can it impair you?" 

"Well some think depending on what you drink, will tell how you will act. If you start to drink to much, you can become unaware of your surroundings, you can blackout, you can be unsteady on your feet, see double, slur your words, there are so many different ways. When I first start getting drunk, I get really giggly and happy. Almost anything can make me laugh, then if I keep drinking, I can become very aggressive and nasty. I usually only stick to one or two, depending on my mood or if I'm with people." 

After explaining this to him, he still doesn't understand why humans would want to do this to themselves. Before he could ask, Shelby asks him, "Do you guys have a drink or substance like that? Something that can make you feel good on the inside, but impair you to the point of passing out?" 

He thought about it for a moment. "We have high grade, but I don't think any of us have had any since before the war." 

He looks away and seems to be in deep though. Thinking of what it was like before the war. 

"I don't think I could even remember what taste like." He admits still looking away. 

"That's horrible. I couldn't live without my alcohol." She claims staring at her drink. 

Sighing, she takes another swig. Her sandwich now finished and her drink halfway gone. She lays back on the couch and stares up at Dreadwing. He seems to be in his own little world. He looks down and gave a heavy sigh. 

"Everything alright?" She asks. 

"I'm fine." He lies. 

"I don't believe you." She states, sitting back up, her elbows on her knees and hands wrapped around the glass bottle. 

He doesn't answer her. He doesn't know what to tell her. He isn't sure if he is ready to talk about what was on his mind just yet. He thought about his brother. Oh how he misses him. Though if Skyquake was still alive, he wouldn't be in this predicament. He would still be aboard the Nemisis, fighting Autobots, serving Megatron. He wouldn't have needed to be brought back to life. While thinking about all of this, he didn't see the impressive engineer walk up to him. He didn't even feel it when she started to climb up his leg and sit on his knee. 

"Are you thinking about your brother?" She inquires. 

He looks at her, somewhat shocked he didn't notice her leave the couch, or even climb up his leg. His face softens and he nods. 

"You don't have to talk about it, just know that I'm here if you need me." She scoots back to where she is leaning against his torso, drinking her green apple. Then she starts to sing;

I can see every tear you've cried  
Like an ocean in your eyes  
All the pain and the scars have left you cold  
I can see all the fears you face  
Through a storm that never goes away  
Don't believe all the lies that you've been told

I'll be right here now  
To hold you when the sky falls down  
I will always  
Be the one who took your place  
When the rain falls  
I won't let go  
I'll be right here

I will show you the way back home  
Never leave you all alone  
I will stay until the morning comes  
I'll show you how to live again  
And heal the brokenness within  
Let me love you when you come undone

I'll be right here now  
To hold you when the sky falls down  
I will always  
Be the one who took your place  
When the rain falls  
I won't let go  
I'll be right here

When daybreak seems so far away  
Reach for my hand  
When hope and peace begin to fade  
Still I will stand

I'll be right here now  
To hold you when the sky falls down  
I will always  
Be the one who took your place  
When the rain falls  
I won't let go  
I'll be right here  
When the rain falls I won't let go  
I'll be right here. 

Dreadwing stares at her. He feels a pull in his spark. He doesn't understand what it was, but for some reason he wishes she would sing again. 'There is NO way I would tell her that. It sounds abnormal thinking about it.' He thought to himself. 

"My older brother used to sing that song to me, whenever I couldn't find the words to say how I was feeling." She tells him, her mind starts to go back to a time before she left. Before she changed, and before he left. 

*Flash back* *First person*

I was out in the barn, laying on the hay bales, crying. Dan and his pack were picking on me again. The minute I got home, I ran straight for the barn. Its where I always go, when I was upset. Being the youngest in the family, I always got picked on. Just because I wasn't as good as my oldest siblings. I shouldn't say that, I was different that my older siblings. I didn't have any interest in the farm like they all did. I liked to stay in the shop working on some new contraption. Today just seemed to be the worst, I cried into my arms as I was laying on my stomach on the hay bales. I didn't hear the foot steps of my older brother come in. He laid down beside me on his back, waiting for me to slow down on my crying.

He pulled me onto his chest and started running his fingers though my hair. Helping me calm down. He was the third oldest out of the 7 of us. He still lived at home, as the first two oldest had moved out and got married. I'm glad he chose to stay living with us. I don't know what I'd do without him. He is always there for me. When my crying calmed down. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked sweetly, still running his fingers though my hair. 

I didn't answer him. I didn't want to speak. My throat felt raw from all the crying. So, instead of pressuring me to speak, he started to sing to me. Right here by Ashes Remains. It was our song, he always sang it to me when I was like this. Especially when I didn't want to talk. He never wanted me to forget that he was there for me. I don't know how I could.  
I laid there and fell asleep to his voice. Knowing I was now safe again.

*third person*

When she came back to reality, she felt a tear escape her eye. She quickly wipes it away. 

"Are you alright, small one?" Dreadwing looks down at her, then takes his servo and picks her up, bringing her up to his eye level. 

"I'm fine, thank you." She gives a small sniffle. 

"We should probably get some recharge." 

Neither of them have had a decent recharge in the past few days. Shelby nods and hops off of him. She walks over to the old ragged couch sitting next to side wall of the shop. She pulls a old blanket, it was black with the wounded worrier symbol on it, off the back of the couch. Then she jumped and fell on it, making a nice thud sound. She looks over at Dreadwing, who had laid down on the concrete ground. 

Giving him a sad look she said, "We should look for something more comfier for you to sleep in. The ground can't be to comfortable." 

He rolls on his side and looks at her. "Its better than being outside on the dirt. I'm not sure how we would be able to make it more comfortable." 

"I'll think of something" She gave a yawn and covered up some more, so that only her head was peeking through.

*the Nemisis*

"STARSCREAM!" Megatron roars. 

"Yes my liege?" Starscream come running to the bridge. 

"Why is the girl, the one who brought Dreadwing back to life, not in my servo!" He says strictly and fierce, walking close to Starscream causing him to back up. 

"Well she was being protected, Master." He whimpers. 

"And who was protecting her, that caused you to run away in fear?" Megatron growls in his face. 

"It was that grenade happy mech, Wheeljack, but then Dreadwing came back." Starscream is now covering his face in fear. 

"You are making me regret my decision to offline him. I should of offlined you!" Megatron screams in his face. "I suggest you don't come back here tell you have that girl and Dreadwing. And I want both of them alive." Megatron gritts his teeth as he says this. 

"And... and how am I supposed to do that, master?" Starscream regretts asking the minute it came out of his mouth. 

"Figure. It. Out." In his face, Starscream can feel the steam rising off of his master. He knew he could not disappoint this time. 

"Well what are you still doing here?!?!" Megatron seethes at him. Starscream ran out of the bridge like his wings were on fire.


	6. Are you Jealous?

Dreadwing is the first one up. He decides instead of just sitting there waiting for Shelby to get up, he is going to go stretch his wings. He opens up the garage door as quietly as he could. Not wanting to wake the recharging femme. The sun is starting to rise and it shines brightly on his armor. It is so calm out this morning. There is a slight breeze, picking up small leaves as it blew throughout the farm. Taking a deep breath, He walks forward a bit, then he jumps skillfully, transforming into his alt mode. He hovers for a moment, then takes off. Not noticing someone running after him.

Shelby woke up to the sound of gears shifting and hydraulics hissing. She immediately jumps off the couch and runs outside. Just as she hits the outside, the sun shining in her face, she sees Dreadwing in his Jet form about to take off. He doesn't notice her as he takes off. She ran for a little bit, not understanding why he left. She's confused and upset. She walks back into the garage and slumps onto the couch. Confusion runs over her face. 

'Maybe he just needed to stretch his wings, but what if he decided he hates me. Maybe he decided he wants his revenge.' She runs all the different reasons through her head. Maybe this, maybe that.

After thinking hard about this for over 15 minutes, she hears the sound of a jet outside again. A smile forms on her face and she stumbles off the couch and runs outside again. Just in time for her to see Dreadwing swoop in and transform. As he transforms and lands, the ground seems to shake a bit. Realizing that she needs to be mad, she wipes the smile from her face. He looks at her in confusion, but only for a moment seeing as he quickly realized why her face was scrunched up in anger. He kneels down and looks at her. 

"I just went to stretch my wings for a few minutes. I didn't mean to wake you." Satisfied with that answer, she gives him a small smile and walks back inside and he follows. 

"We need to find a power source to charge you. Energon and recharging can only do so much. How are you feeling?" She turns to him and asks him. Her face serious and cold. 

"I feel like I barely had any recharge. Usually if I go for a flight, I wake up more, but this time it feels like I'm more tired." He says the truth. He looks tired. His optics seem to droop as he talks, his shoulders are slouched unlike the straight and back like they normally are. His wings are down, not up and perky like they usually are. You can see that his body is draining. 

"We need to find one fast. I don't have anything big enough to charge you here. I can't just hook you up the main power frame like I did to wake you. I need to do some research. I have to go inside on my computer and see if I can find a strong enough generator. I might even be able to get a military grade one. I'll have to make a few phone calls. Are you alright to be out here by yourself?" She looks up to him with hopeful eyes. All he does is nod and go sit down against the wall. A worried look forms on her face and she runs over to him. 

"I need to be fast. Do not fall asleep." She orders him. He feels so tired. His body is powering down, but he nods to her. He will not fall asleep. 

She runs into the house to her computer. Her phone is up to her ear as well. She knows she doesn't have much time. She gets in the office and sits down turning on the computer. 

"Hey man...Yeah I know its been while. But hey I need a huge favor." She says into the phone after they answer. 

Still talking on the phone, she also looks up information on generating the kind of power she would need for Dreadwing. Listening to the phone, she hears the information she was hoping for. 

"That is great to hear. Can I come get it now?....Oh boy well I better hit the road then...Ok...I'll need to fix my trailer first. But that shouldn't take me long....Thanks man, your the best...yea you wish." She laughs into the phone before she hangs up. Then she gets up and runs outside. 

Dreadwing is sitting outside soaking up the sun, sharpening his sword. He hears the small footsteps of Shelby running out to him. He looks up at her, a tired look in his optics. 

"I got you a generator." She says panting as she gets up to him. "But I'm going to need your help fixing my truck and trailer quick, so I get tow it back here." She continues. 

He nods and stands up. He puts his sword back on his back. He follows her over to the side of the shop, where she had parked her truck and trailer. She hadn't had time to fix it since Dreadwing came back to life. She takes her keys out of her pocket and jumps into the truck. Dreadwing stands back out of the way as she attempts to pull the trailer out front. The bed of the truck and front of the trailer are badly damaged. Where the gooseneck of the trailer connects to the bed of the truck, is all bent out of shape. The gooseneck is bent almost in a perfect U from when Shelby is trying to get Dreadwing off of it. The fifth wheel hook up for the trailer was partially ripped up out of the bed. The kind of scrunched up like if someone was trying to suck all the air out of vacuum seal bag. The trailer is barely hanging on. It is bent up and trying to get the coupler on the bed to let go of it. As she look down the trailer she can see where the gooseneck is supposed to fold down and lay flat, if you were to drive a vehicle on that way instead of using the ramps at the end, it now is bent almost flat. This is how it seemed to form the U shape. If you walk down toward the end of the trailer the suspension has been broken. The trailer now lay on the wheels, it makes it alot harder to move the trailer as the tires rubbed up against the edges of the bed. The only thing not messed up on this trailer are the ramps. Only because they weren't attached to the trailer when Shelby went to move the heavy metal body found in the back woods of her property. 

Shelby hops out of the cab and takes a step back. Now she is really taking in what had happened to the truck and trailer. She throws her hands up to her head and grabs her hair. 

"Shit, this is worse than I thought it was." She growls walking around the truck and trailer. Dreadwing wants to ask what happened to it, but he realizes he already knows the answer to it. It was his fault. 

"There is no way I can fix this. I need a whole new bed for my truck. The trailer is behond fixable." She huffs, upset knowing needs to get a new trailer. She doesn't have much time to find one. 

"I don't know how I'm going to get the generator now. I can't get this fixed in time." She turns and looks up to him. Her hand is holding up her chin as she thought hard. But instead of her speaking, Dreadwing spoke this time. 

"What if we call Prime, his alt mode is a truck. I'm sure he has a trailer for it." He says looking down at the women. 

"Good idea, Dreadwing." She whips out her phone and makes the call.

"Yo, OP! I need a favor." She says into the phone. She explains the situation to him. Before she even hangs up the phone, a blue-green portal appears and Optimus Prime walks out. 

"Lets roll" He says and transforms. The gears move and the hydraulics hiss. He transforms into a beautiful semi truck. An in-closed seems to form out of no where. Shelby takes a quick look at the trailer, assessing it to make sure the generator would fit. 

Before she climbs up into the truck, she looks at Dreadwing. "Stay here, Where we are going, your alt mode wouldn't be allowed. I don't want you to get hurt." He gives her a nod. 

"Be safe." He says in almost a whisper but she heard him. 

It makes her smile. Optimus has the driver side door open ready for her to climb in. She climbs up and buckles in as the door closes. She gives Dreadwing one last wave and they drive off. 

Dreadwing leans back against the garage watching them drive off. He crossed his arms. The look on his face was utter disgust. He doesn't like the idea of Shelby sitting in Optimus driver seat. Touching his steering wheel. Talking to him. He feels angry that he can't go with. He wants to be the one to take her. He wants to make sure she is safe. He can't do that from here. 

"Maybe I can fly behind them. Low and staying out of sight. Should I risk it?" He thought to himself. Now his face had a questioning look on it. As he thought about what he should do. 

"What am I saying? I need to make sure she stays safe." And with that thought he transformed and flew off.

As they pulled out of the driveway, Shelby couldn't help but feel upset about leaving Dreadwing. She wished he could come along. But she needs to keep his safety priority number one. 

"Where are we heading too?" The baritone voice of Optimus pulls her out of her thoughts. 

"We are going to a military surplus store in a few towns over. Unfortunately it will take us about three hours to get there. I just hope we make it back in time." She says looking into her lap. 

"Why don't we ground bridge?" He questions. 

"I thought about it. But it's in the middle of a town. We would be seen easy." She explains. Optimus doesn't say anything back and the ride becomes silent. 

After about 15 minutes of driving, "Optimus come in" Ratchets voice is heard though the radio. 

"I'm here, old friend." 

"Your being followed." Shelby looks up out of the mirror. 

"I don't see anything." She says still looking at the mirror. 

"I think it's Dreadwing." Ratchet replys. 

"I told him to stay put." She growls. "Pull over, Optimus"

He pulls off to the side of the road. The road is empty for miles. Woods on either side. No houses in sight. Shelby jumps angerly out of the truck. Optimus stays in his alt mode. Shelby can hear the sound of Dreadwing's alt. She stands in the middle of the road looking at the sky. He can be heard but not seen...yet. 

Dreadwing spots them stopped from a distance.. He wonders if something was wrong. He lowers himself in the trees. Just enough so he doesn't get caught in them. He can still see them as he flies closer. He is close enough to see Shelby jump out of the truck and walk into the middle of the road. 'What is she doing?' he thinks to himself. He isn't close enough to see her face, but boy did he not want to know. If he could see her, he would be able to see the steam coming out of her ears. Her face contorted in anger. She stays in the middle of the road. As he get closer he realized why she was. 

"Frag" Is all he mutters before landing in front of her.

Now he can see her face. Her normal bright blue eyes are now a deep blue. If they could turn colors, it would be a violent fire scorching inside. He winces back after looking at her. Her hands are in fist at her side. Her body seeming to be stiff. He glances down at her gun. Lucky for him, her hands aren't on it, but she is thinking about it. Her lips are pierced together. She wants to scream at him. He is supposed to stay home and stay safe. He shouldn't be using his energy up.

"Dreadwing." Her words pierce though him like knives. "Your supposed to be at home." 

He looked down in shame. He made her upset and he doesn't like that feeling. She sees the look on his face. The guilt showing in his red optics. She unclenches her hands and her face softens. 

"I don't want you wasting the energy you have left. And you are safer at home." She turns around and pulls something out of her back pocket. It is red and white box with some wording on it. She flips the top of it open and brings it up to her face. She gently uses her teeth to grab one of the nicotine sticks out of the box. She puts the box back in her back pocket and pulls a silver zippo out of her front pocket. She brings it to the end of the cigarette and flicks it until a flame grew. The flame lit the end and she inhales. Dreadwing watches as she takes a few puffs of it before she turns back around. 

"I didn't mean for you to get angry," He decides he needs to be the first to speak, "I just wanted you to make it alright and come back safe." He kneels down to her level. 

"Do you not trust Optimus? He is with me. I think I'll be safe." She asks taking another drag. 

"I don't just yet. We were on opposite sides after all." He needs her to understand him. He wants her to. 

"I know. I understand, but you need to conserve your energy. Please head back and wait for me. Do you want me to call you when we get there and when we leave?" She asks him. He gives a small smile and nods. She walks up to him and puts her hand on his cheek.

"Okay I will. Now go home." He nods once again and stands up. He backs up from her and she gives him a wave. He transforms and sores off back to the house. 

Shelby finished up her cigarette and flicks it away. Optimus opens the drivers side door back up for her to get in. Once she is in, they begin the rest of their journey. 

"Are you alright?" After a few minutes of driving, Optimus speaks up. 

"I'm fine, just a little stressed out." She replies while looking out the window. 

"I've never seen him care about someone so much besides his twin." He tells her. 

"Didn't he care for the Decepticons, or Megatron?" She wonders him, turning and looking at his radio. 

"That's I think a different kind of care. He was more loyal than caring. He just did as he was told. That's how Decepticons are supposed to be." She listens to Optimus explain how the Decepticons were treated by Megatron, and how they work. It fascinated her. It made her think of the war she fought in. It was almost the same situation, only we died a whole lot easier and faster. 

"It sounds familiar." She says, not realizing she was thinking aloud. 

"What sounds familiar?" Optimus questions, not understand what could be familiar. 

"I know war, Optimus. I've fought for the good guys. I've killed some of the bad guys. The bad guys killed some of the good guys. It honestly sounds the same exact scenarios, just different species." She explains him, eyes saddening, thinking about her lost comrades. 

If Optimus was in his bipedal form, he would be nodding his head at her. He wants to ask her about this war, but she already looks upset about just saying those few words. 

"I am sorry you had to deal with the struggles of war." He says instead. 

"Its okay, I chose to go fight. I chose to build new equipment. I chose to go overseas. I chose it all. And I'd chose it all again if I could." Optimus understands, she doesn't need to say anything more.

* Time Skip*

The rest of the drive was silent, except for the occasional small talk between the two. 

"We are almost there. Take this exit and turn right." She points out to the Prime. He follows her instructions without a word. 

"Make sure you stay in your alt. My buddy doesn't know about you." She reminds him.

"Understood." 

"See the fenced in yard coming up?" She asks. 

"Yes" 

"Pull in there." 

He pulls up to the gate. Shelby has him roll down the window and she presses a button on the small intercom system. 

"ID" says a male voice through the system. 

"Shelby Bishop." 

It makes Optimus pause for a moment. He's heard that last name before, but at the moment he can't put his digit on it. 

"Bishop! Finally, I didn't think you were going to show up" the voice becomes excited and the gates opened up. 

"Alright Optimus, let go in." She whispers to him. 

He rolls forward in the yard. Pulling up near some loading docks and a man walks out of one of the supply doors. Shelby hops out of the truck and walks slowly up to the man. Before she gets a word out, he embraces her. The embrace was strong and he held on long. 

"Haven't seen you in while. I was surprised to get your call." He expresses to her. 

"Yeah it's been awhile, Fisher." The broke their embrace. 

"Come on I got your generator back here." He beams putting his arm around her and walking her to the other side of the lot. 

The generator is at least a foot taller than the 5'2" woman standing in front of it. Shelby walks around it, checking to make sure it is all in one piece. Asking questions to make sure she could run it safely. She never had to use one before. Just knew friends, such as Fisher, who ran them. 

"Do you really need to check everything? Do you really think I would give you faulty equipment?" Fisher conveys. 

"I know I know. You've always been spot on with everything. But you know how I am." She claims. 

"I thought I did. But we've barely talked since..." He can't finish the sentence. He fears he said something wrong already. Shelby's face has fallen. 

"I'm sorry." He says. 

"Don't. I'm doing better now. Things are starting to look up for me." She explains, forcing a smile. 

"That's really good to hear." Fisher moves closer to her. Putting his hand on her shoulder. She looks up at him and he smiles down to her. 

"You know I'm always here for ya. We all are." He states. 

"We?" She asks. 

"Seriously? The platoon. We still get together. We have been hoping you would show up. We all miss you." He expresses.

"Well tell them all I say hi." She says quietly.

"Alright lets get this thing loaded up." She smacks the generator and walks towards Optimus's trailer. 

"I'll get the lift then." He rubs the back of his head and walks over the a yellow forklift. 

He hopped in and started it up. Shelby had the trailer open and ready for Fisher to put the generator inside. He carefully lifted the box off the ground. He brought it over slow and carefully. Dropping it would cause millions worth of damage. He aligns up with the trailer and slowly slides it in. Shelby jumps in behind it, after he pulls away. She doesn't want it to go all the way to the back off the trailer, so she chains it up where it is. She test the tightness and climbs back out. She closes up the doors and locks it up. 

"Thanks, Fisher. I owe you one." She turns to him. 

"Yeah you do. You better show up to the next meet up." He points his finger at her, like she was a child that ate the last cookie. 

"I'll think about it." She smiles and starts to walk back up to the cab. 

"What's it for anyway?" He yells to her before. 

The driver side door to the semi was open and she stood about to get in. She looks back at him, "If I told you, I'd have to kill you." She gives him a smirk, so he knows she's not serious but she's serious about not telling him. The door slams shut behind her and they drive off. Optimus waits tell he is out of the yard to talks. 

"You wouldn't really kill him if he found out." He cautiously asks. 

"Its a joke between us. I would never kill him." She chuckled.

"I'm sorry for eavesdropping, but I have to ask... What happened that you don't talk to your friends anymore?" Shelby knew he was going to ask. 

"Its a long story. One I'm not about to talk about." She swears looking down at her hands. 

That silenced the Prime. The ride continued in silence.


	7. Let's Trade

*First POV*

I normally stayed at base, but today I was told I was going on the convoy to one of the other fobs. Some of my equipment was malfunctioning, so they needed me to go do some repairs. My corporals that were out there weren't able to figure it out. I don't mind going. It will be nice to get out of the base. I was going to be riding in the eighth vic with the commander. Because of my mos, I have to be just as protected as the commander. If they lose me, they lose their equipment. Even though my platoon knows how to repair and work them, I'm the one who designed them, I know the ins and outs of them. They need me. It felt good to be needed, unlike when growing up. 

The convoy is almost ready to go. I got my weapon and pack and about to get in my truck. 

"Alright men, lets go." Yells the commander. 

I watch everyone hop in their trucks, the gunners get on their guns, then I get in. I have my Kevlar and flack jacket on. Holding my weapon close to me. Then we start to move. 

*Time skip*

We are about 6 hours into the trip. Unfortunately it's a day trip. I am so bored back here. I was told I could try and sleep. But I just can't do it. I feel the need to stay awake. Somethings not right and I don't know why. I can't put my finger on it. I want to say something, but it doesn't matter what I think. I don't even know what I'd tell them. 'Hey I feel like something bad is about to happen. we should stop it.' Yeah I think they would look at me like I was stupid. This is going to be a long drive.

*Time skip* 

We are only about an hour away now. My anxiety is through the roof now. Something is defiantly wrong. The commander has tried to contact the fob and so far we haven't heard back from them. Everyone in the truck is worried now. We don't know what's going on. 

"C...CV239...This....F....17...F...1718...." Static starts to come through the com. 

"F1718 This is CV239 copy." The commander said back into the radio. Worry could be heard in his voice. 

"Under...ack..Hurry." We looked at each other. 

"If that is what I think I heard. we need to hurry." I said. My men were in danger. All our men were in danger. The commander radio up to the first vic and told them to step on it. 

We roll up about a thirty minutes later we roll up on the fob...or what's left of it. We are to late. I jump out of the vic, barely hearing the yelling from my commander to get back in the truck. I have to find my platoon. It looks like whoever did this is long gone now. I'm running though looking for survivors. Dead bodies are scattered everywhere. Friendly and enemy. I feel someone grab my arm, trying to stop me. I jerk my arm away and continue to search. The tent that my guys would of been in, is just bit further. Its hard to tell where anything was, they way it has all been destroyed. If we would of been here earlier, this might not have happened. You can see where the enemy threw grenades. You couldn't even tell who the body's were. There was nothing left of them. Just torn and shattered body's. Blood, its like the ground is bleeding. There is so much of it. I keep walking, more like jogging. Trying not to step on anything. 

I step up to where the tent my men should be in. Its torn apart. Shell casings lie all around. At least I know they put up a fight. I move part of the tent away. I see one of my guys right away. He had his weapon still in his hands. I kneel down next to him. Tears start to form in my eyes. He has, from what I can see, 4 shots right though his chest. Blood seeping though. He's lost so much. I bend down and pick up his head and move it onto my lap. He's still warm. I am to late. I should of been here sooner. I look over to my right, under some rubble, I see my senior corporal. His heads been crushed in. You can barely tell its him. I only know, because I can see his rank and name tag. He was shot as well. But I think the blow to the head is what killed him. I'm crying now. There should be two more, but I don't know if I want to look anymore. I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look up and see Fisher, he came with me to check the equipment. He's kneeled next to me. His eyes show that he's hurting. It looked as if he wanted to cry too, but was trying to be strong for me. For all of us. 

After sitting there for a few minutes, the sounds of bullets rang. We immediately stand up and get our weapons ready. They stop for a moment. I look around, nothing. None of us see anything. Then its heard again, and this time we hear a thump of a body hitting the ground. 

The enemy is still here. 

The commander gets back in the vic and calls for help. Fisher covers me getting me back to the group. I don't want to leave the rest. But I have no choice. We are now getting full blown shot at. The enemy is showing themselves now. Advancing towards us. We take cover behind the vics. Taking shots as needed. The gunners are plowing them down. I watch as one gets his head shot. You could see the blood spray in all directions. Parts of his skull and brain go flying back. The enemy soldier falls forward. Dead before he even hit the ground. 

I don't know how long it goes on for. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Everyone's voices mixed together. Its getting hard to concentrate. There are so many. Bullets are flying fast. I can't tell who's winning. I don't know what to think right now. This wasn't supposed to happen. We were all supposed to go home together. We all had plans. Families that needed us. Well not me. But some of my men have babies to get home too. Now those babies will grow up without a father. I'm staring though my sight, looking for my next shot. But I never get my shot. The last thing I hear is the explosion of the bomb we never saw coming. 

My world goes black.

*Third POV*

"Shelby!" Yell's Optimus. 

She has been screaming and crying for a few minutes now. He was getting worried He knew she was having a nightmare, but to what extent. 

"Shelby!" He yells again. 

She stirs in the seat. He wiggles the seat. She sits up fast, her heart pounding and trying to catch her breath. Her hand is over her heart, trying to calm herself down. 

"Are you alright?" The concerned voice of Optimus is heard though the radio. 

All she can do at the moment is nod to him. Unsure if she is okay. After a little bit of time, she regains composer. 

"I'm sorry Optimus. I'm alright." She apologizes, trying to keep her voice normal. 

"Are you sure? You were screaming and crying." Her face startes to get red from embarrassment as he spoke. 

"Just a nightmare. I'm fine." She says like it was no big deal. 

"Do you get these often? Ratchet told me that you had one the night you and Dreadwing stayed with us." He told her. 

"Of course he did. Yes, but I'm used to it. Its alright." She doesn't want him to be concerned for her. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks, his voice was sweet and low. 

"No I don't." No one needs to know about her nightmares. They are her burden to bare. 

"We should be at your home in about 20 minutes." Trying to lighten the mood, Optimus hopes thinking about home would help. 

"Awesome, I hope Dreadwing stayed there." She exclaims, her voice sounding lighter. 

"I can ask Ratchet if he's seen Dreadwing's energy signal move?" He suggests to her. 

"No, I need to be able to trust him." She responds. 

The two fell into some silence and continued to drive. Shelby knows where they are, even though it was all woods. Soon she could see her shop come into view. Then as they got closer she could see her house. They pull into the driveway and Shelby immediately hops out and Optimus transforms. Shelby ran inside of the garage, looking for Dreadwing. But he wasn't there. 

"I wonder where he is. He is supposed to be resting." Sadness showed in her voice. 

"Maybe he took a walk." Optimus suggests. She doesn't say anything. Thinking hard about where he could of gone. 

"Ratchet to Optimus." Ratchet is heard over the comm. 

"Optimus here." He answers into the comm. 

"I have a message you need to read." 

'That doesn't sound good' thought Shelby. 

"Send a ground bridge." He told Ratchet. The ground bridge opened waiting for him to walk though. 

"Optimus can I go with? What if it's Dreadwing?" Her voice had worry in it. She is standing close to his leg looking up to him. 

"Yes" he bent his servo down so she could climb on. She jumps on without hesitation. 

They then begin to go though the ground bridge. Once they step though it closed behind them. On the other side, the rest of team Prime was standing around Ratchet, who was typing on the computers. 

"What is going on, Ratchet?" asks the mighty leader. 

"We got a message. A message from Megatron." Ratchet says turning to Optimus and Shelby.

"Megatron?" Shelby questions. She knew she heard right, but she was hoping it would of been Dreadwing. 

"What does Bucket head want?" Miko spat. 

"Please read it." Optimus says to Ratchet. 

"It says, Tell the girl, if she wants Dreadwing to stay alive. She will turn herself over to me. And I suggest you make a decision quick. It doesn't look like he has long." Ratchet ends and looks over at Optimus and Shelby. 

"Where does he want to meet?" Shelby asks, her arms are crossed and she wears a aggravated look on her face. 

"These are the coordinates." Ratchet pulls a map up on the screen. They all looked on the map. 

"Your not planning on turning yourself in?" Arcee barks. 

"What else am I supposed to do? Dreadwing needs that generator. I will explain to Ratchet how to work the generator and how to hook up to Dreadwing." Shelby shrugs explaining her plan. 

"No we will not let you trade yourself." Optimus demands. 

"Well what else am I supposed to do? Dreadwing needs me to get him out. He needs that generator asap. If he doesn't get charged soon, I'll...we will lose him." Shelby expresses. 

She sits down on Optimus's hand, hugging her knees. She running her hand through her hair. 

"Put me down." Orders Shelby. Optimus quickly puts her down. 

"Ratchet open the ground bridge." She adds. 

"Shelby lets think of a plan." Optimus steps in front of her, trying to stop her. 

"No, Optimus. Get out of my way. Dreadwing doesn't have enough time to think of a plan." Anger flashes in her eyes. It makes Optimus rethink his next words. 

"I'll go with you." He finally says. 

"Fine, lets go." She grunts walking around his foot. 

Ratchet opened the ground bridge. Shelby walked thought first, then Optimus following. Bumblebee, Arcee and Bulkhead decide to follow too. The ground bridge closes behind them. 

"What do you think Megatron wants with her?" Jack asked Ratchet. 

"Well seeing as she was able to revive Dreadwing. He probably wants her to bring other cons back." He answered staring at where the ground bridge had closed. 

On the other side, Shelby and the bots walk though the ground bridge. They come to a clearing. Behind them is a rock wall and around them is a desert. Dry and hot, the sun beating down on them. Another ground bridge opens in front of them. A con larger than Optimus, walks out. Behind him came three more cons, and two are dragging a barely conscious Dreadwing. The large one is gray, covered in battle scars, and has purple eyes. There is a sleek red con with red eyes holding up one side if Dreadwing. He has a smirk on his face as he let go of his side. This causes the other one to fumble and fall forward. Shelby recognizes this one. It is Starscream, the drag queen. He scoffs at the red smaller con. The red con just waves him off. The last one stands to the side, watching closely, waiting to interject. Even with his visor on, Shelby knows he is starting at her. 

"I see you got your visor fixed, Soundwave." She gloats smirking at him. 

He turns away looking at everyone else. She looks over at Dreadwing. On the outside she has a stone cold look on her face, but on the inside, she wants to run to him. He is laying headfirst in the ground now. He must be unconscious. He took a beating too. Damages has been done to his frame. 

"Optimus, came with the girl as she hands herself over to me?" The large one questions , his voice raspy and antagonizing. 

"Hand over Dreadwing, Megatron. Leave her out of this." Optimus puts his battle mask on, ready to fight if necessary. 

"Hand over the girl." Megatron demands, his servo out. Waiting for Optimus to put her in his hand. 

It's as if time froze for a moment. No one moved, no one said a word. After a few moments, Shelby steps forward. 

"Shelby no!" Cries Optimus. She put her hand up to stop him. 

"Take care of Dreadwing for me." She manages to say. She steps out in the middle of the with the Autobots and Decepticons. 

"I'll go with you, but Dreadwing needs to be handed over first." Her voice never breaks. She speaks with confidence and authority. 

Megatron looks down at her and nods. He raises his servo up and motions for the two cons to move Dreadwing's almost lifeless body forward. Once in the middle, Bulkhead and Bumblebee came and picks up Dreadwing pulling him to their side. Shelby walks over the rest of the way. She turns around and walks backwards. 

"Tell Ratchet to look up military generators 1573.449. It will tell him how to work it. And make sure he uses two cables and one is grounded." She tries not to show the sadness in her voice. "And tell him I'm sorry." 

She turns back around. She can't look at them anymore. Optimus has his arm stretched out for her. He feels as if he failed her somehow. She is sacrificing herself to save Dreadwing. 

"We shall get you back, Shelby. I promise with all my spark." Optimus declared. 

Megatron laughs, "Open the ground bridge, Soundwave. Knockout, grab the girl." 

"I think I can walk just fine." Shelby snarls and crosses her arms. 

"We don't need you getting ideas." Knockout snaps back at her. He quickly snatching her up. 

"Oh weapon." His servo reaches out, ready for her to hand over her pistol. 

"What is Soundwave scared I'll shatter his visor again?" She scoffs. 

"Just hand it over." Knockout scowls. She grabs her pistol from her waist where she had it concealed. 

"Here" She hands Knockout the pistol. He can barely hold it in his large servo, the gun is so small. 

"I still don't understand how such a small weapon did so much damage." He says walking thought the ground bridge with the other cons. 

Shelby knew he was talking to himself, but she couldn't resist. "Maybe he shouldn't have underestimated a mere human." She says sarcastically. 

Knockout sneered at her, but didn't respond. He follows the others through the ground bridge. Entering the other side was a whole different world for Shelby. She doesn't know where to look first. 

"Where are we?" She just has to ask. 

"The Nemisis, dear girl. Where you will be our guest unless you do something otherwise." Megaton spoke, as if trying to sound sweet. Shelby only looking at him in disgust. 

He saw this and says, "think if it at home away from home." 

"This place will never be my home!" She screams at him. 

She didn't want to, but she couldn't help it come out. She realizes this and quickly covers her mouth. Megatron gives a small smirk, as if hoping this would happen.

"Knockout take the lovely girl to her new quarters." 

"Yes, my liege." Knockout gives a small bow and turns and walks away from the bridge.

They walk down a long dark hallway. Passing other entrances as they went along. Shelby refrained from talking. She needs to stay on their good side if she is going to be able to find a way off the ship. She secretly prays Ratchet and the others are taking care of Dreadwing. She just hopes he can forgive her. Knockout keeps walking. It seems the hallways goes on forever. Soon enough he stops in front of a door. He punches a code into the data pad on the wall and the door slides open. It feels as if he starts to walk in slow motion. The room is dark. It seemed to be closing in on Shelby. She wants to curl up in a ball. Hope it is all a dream. Once Knockout turned the lights on, the feeling went away from Shelby. She releases the breath she didn't realize she was holding in. 

The room is already prepared for her arrival. They were waiting for her to come. They were waiting for her to slip and leave Dreadwing alone. This was all her fault. The room isn't big, though it doesn't need to be. There is a platform on the wall furthest from the door. It seems like a giant metal shelf. On it is a human sized bed, desk, chair, couch, even a refrigerator. There is a wardrobe along the wall. Everything seemed to be set up as if it were in a house. Just no walls showing the individual rooms. Except for one particular area, it has to be a bathroom. It is all were in a straight line. As if someone just wanted it to look like it was on display. If she is going to be living here, she will have to do some rearranging. Knockout brought her over and set her down on the platform. 

"Everything is fully stocked for you. You will be staying here awhile, so get comfortable. We will get you if you are needed." He explains her. 

She slowly starts to walk around, walking towards the edge. 

"That's a long way down." She says to herself, slowly backing up after looking at the long drop if she were to fall. 

"Yeah I wouldn't try it." Knockout chuckles just before he left the room. The door closes behind him, and she is all alone.

She decides to look around at everything left for her. The bed is king size and the covers are soft as silk. She laid down and slowly sank in. It is the softest, comfiest bed she has ever laid in. 

"Decepticons sure know how to pick bedding. Lets see what else they got me." She rolls off the bed and walks over the wardrobe. She opens it slowly and carefully, wishing she had her gun. She is paranoid that something could be inside. Soon she realizing there is nothing as it's only filled with clothes. Lots of clothes. More than she has ever owned. From dresses too shirts. Jeans and shorts. Any type of clothing you could think of, this wardrobe had it in there. 

"They obviously didn't pay attention to how I dress." She laughs to herself. 

She takes out one of the dresses. It is a light pink vintage dress, with silver ribbon around the waist and silver ribbon lining the heart shape halter top. The back is corset with silver ribbon. It is beautiful. Shelby places it against her body and imagines herself in the dress. It reminds her of one she wore when she was in high school. It was for Easter Sunday. One of her favorite dresses. She dances around with the dress close to her. She realizes that she hadn't worn a dress since she was in high school. After she joined the military, she got rid of them all. Including the pink and silver dress she loved.  
After putting the dress back, she saunters towards the living area, with a black leather couch and a wooden side table next to it. A small lamp is sitting on top of it. There is no tv, but a bookshelf, filled with tons of books. Shelby chuckles to herself as she walks over to the bookshelf. Crime novels, romance, horror and mystery books filled the shelves. All types of books she loves to read. Not romance so much, but every once and awhile she would indulge in one. They really seemed to have spied on her. Learned a lot about her. Something that should be really creepy made her laugh. They took great lengths to make her stay comfortable. They must really need her. Making her way to the small kitchenette, there is a regular size refrigerator, oven, sink, cabinets, even a microwave. Everything is stocked. There is plenty of food to last her a few weeks. She looks around in the refrigerator, moving stuff around. 

"Sure they have everything, but alcohol. If I'm going to live here, I'm going to need alcohol." She puts her hands on her hips, irritated about not having her Smirnoff Ice. 

She closes the refrigerator and walks to the next area, the bathroom. The only part that was enclosed. She opens the plain white door and walks in. It is all white, nothing accenting the room. She knew she was going to have to change that. There is a shower on one side, no curtain, but there is already shampoo and body wash. She opens up the cupboard under the sink and its filled with cleaning supplies. 

"At least they understand the needs of being clean." She whispers to herself. 

The toilette is next to the sink and a toilette paper holder attached to the side of the cupboard. There is a towel rack above the toilette, with 2 towels hanging over it. Behind the door is a tall shelf, holding all the basic needs a human would need. along with extra of everything. She walks back out and sighs. Unsure of how to feel about all this. She walks over the desk that is sitting near the bookshelf. She opens the drawers to find paper, and writing utensils. She wishes she had some electronics. Like a computer, or a cell phone. But they probably don't want her trying to connect with the outside world. Especially Dreadwing. 

Thinking about Dreadwing, made her upset. She sits down in the chair that was slid under the desk. She put her elbows on her knees and her hands holding up her head. She wonders how long she is going to be held captive here or if she was going to end up dying here. There is no way the Decepticons are going to use her for her knowledge. She will go down with a fight. As she was pondering ideas on how to escape or survive, there is a knock on the door. She jumps off the chair and ran to the edge. Before she could say come in. Soundwave walked in.


	8. Aboard the Nemisis

He stared at her. She stared back. He stood in the entry of the door, arms to his side. She stood on the platform, her arms crossed. No emotion showed from either of them. How long they stood there for was unsure. Neither said a word to each other. Though Soundwave did make a vow of silence, there were many words he wanted to say to the now defenseless human. He was not going to let this girl get to him. It was going to be hard for the two of them to be near each other. The only reason Soundwave was there in the first place was because Megatron told him to come and get the fleshing. After a few more moments of staring. He releases one of his tentacles to grab her. She sees it coming after her. Just before he is able to grab her, she jumps out of the way. There is no way she is going to let him grab her again. 

After dodging the tentacles for a while. She began to grow tired. She hid in the bathroom to catch her breath. Her back against the door. Soundwave uses his tentacle to knock repeatedly on the door. Thus starting to anger Shelby. But she has no plan to give in. 

"Soundwave what is taking so long?" Megatrons voice raged throughout her room. It causes her to jump in surprise. Soundwave hears her yelp and knew now was his chance. He broke the door down and grabbed her by wrapping his tentacle claw around her waist. 

"Put me down, you octopus." She screamed. 

He brought her close to his chest and started to walk down the hallway, ignoring her threats. Eventually she gave in. She rested her right arm across Soundwave's long finger and her left elbow using her hand to hold her head up. The hallways all look the same to Shelby. It made her kind if tired, seeing the same scene, but soon the scene changed and they were in the bridge if the ship. Shelby put her head up and looked around. The room is dark, as well as everything around her. Megatron is standing at the end of a long black and purple bridge. He is looking out of the giant bay window showing the Earth below. Soundwave walks along the bridge over to Megatron. 

"Ah, Soundwave you finally got the girl. Hand her to me." He turned to look at the girl, his servo out for Soundwave to drop her on. 

Megatron turns back and Soundwave leaves the room. Shelby sat cross-legged on his servo, arms crossed and looked out the window. It didn't really hit her how far from home she really was...tell now. A small tear formed in her eye, but she quickly wiped it away. Not need to show a sign of weakness to these giant brutes. Megatron gazed down at her. 

"I'm sure your wondering why I wanted you here." He starts to say. 

"Something about me bringing Dreadwing back to life. Which by the way was an accident. I didn't know what I was doing." She cut him off. Bringing her knees up, she lazily put her arms on top of them. 

"I need to know how. You would be a good asset to us in repair of our injured. You will be helping Knockout and Shockwave with any injuries and improvements." He tries to sound sweet. 

"Improvements? I'm a human engineer. How the hell can I help you?" She sneers. 

"You were in the military. Were you not?" He asks, his face straight, making her unable to try and read him. 

"Yes I was. But what does that have to do with anything?" She questions. 

"Then you will make plenty of improvements." He releases the smirk that had been playing on his lips. 

"Knockout will show you around, he will be your guide while you are aboard." He continues. 

"Oh great." She sighs. 

"Knockout! come to the bridge." He orders over a comm link. 

"Coming, my liege." Said Knockout on the other line. 

Knockout got the bridge and Megatron explained to him what will happen. Knockout didn't seem to keen on the idea of watching over a 'fleshling', but he took her anyway, not wanting to make Megatron angry. Knockout didn't hold on to her as tight this time. She doesn't have the energy to fight anymore, that all came out from Soundwave. Now she just didn't want to be here anymore. They walked into a room that must be a medical room. For there was a giant metal table in the middle of the room and different types of equipment lying around as well as a door at the other end of the room. They ended up walking though that room as well. This room was full of more equipment. Lots of which Shelby had no idea what they could do. How they expected her to work with them, blew her mind. She needed to start thinking of a plan to escape. There is a large one eyed purple bot standing in the middle of the room. His one eye looking at some viles. He turned when he heard the door open. 

"Meet Shockwave." Knockout said walking over to where Shockwave was working. 

*Back at Autobot Base.*

"He's stabilized...for now." Ratchet inquired.

He had worked endless hours to make sure the former con would be alright. Bumblebee, Smokescreen, and Bulkhead had brought the generator from Shelby's home the minute they got Dreadwing back to base. Optimus stood by the computers, trying to figure out a way to get Shelby back. So far he was having no such luck. He turned when he heard Ratchet speak. It made them all feel a little better, knowing Dreadwing would live. But no one knows how they will tell the ex con, that Shelby traded herself for his safety. They all understood that he was not going to take it very well. 

"Very good, Ratchet." The Prime praised. 

"I just hope its enough. Shelby would of done a better job." Ratchet hung his head. 

"You did your best and that is what matters most." Optimus reminded Ratchet. Ratchet nodded his head in agreement to please the Prime. 

"If the Decepticons want Shelby for her knowledge, She's probably going to need equipment her size. Think they would go back to her house to get it and maybe bring her with?" Raf asked, looking up from his computer. 

'That could give us a chance to get her back.' Bee beeped. 

"I doubt the Decepticons would let her out of their sight long enough for us to get her. Even if they did go to her house." Arcee implied. 

"But it is worth a shot." Bulkhead stated. 

"You are right, Bulkhead. We need to be ready incase they decide to go back to her home. Ratchet keep a close eye on any activity at Shelby's home." Optimus ordered. 

"Yes, Optimus." Ratchet swiftly walked over to the computers and brought up a map of Shelby's home. They were going to get her back. And now they at least had a plan. 

*Back on the Nemisis*

"If you think I'm going to help you guys, your high." Shelby stated. 

She is standing on the tall metal countertops talking with Knockout and Shockwave. They were discussing how Shelby would be able to help with making new weapons as well as upgrading the vehicons. Shelby wanted no part in it. 

"We could just start torturing you for the answers." Knockout offers. 

Shelby scoffs. "Ha. Torture me all you want. You won't get anything out of me." 

Knockout growls at the girl. He clenches his servos into a fist and brought it up as if to try and intimidate the girl. 

"Your going to punch me. That would be a bad move. Since Megatron needs me so bad." She instigates. 

"Oh I'll do more than punch you little fleshling." He growls again. 

"Oh ow that hurt." She says sarcastically a smirk forming on her face.

Knockout went to grab the girl, but Shockwave stops him before he could. This make Knockout more angry. He rips his arm away and stormed off. 

"Wow what's wrong with him?" She turns to Shockwave. Her arms are crossed and with the smirk still on her face. 

"You are instigating him to get him angry. It is highly illogical considering he can squish you." He says in his monotone voice. 

She waves him off and walks away to look at the equipment again. It is all very fascinating to her. She would love to learn how to use it, but that would mean helping the bad guys and she was not going to do that. 

"It would be logical for you to work here." He points out to her. 

Without turning around she asks, "And why is that?" 

"It will keep you alive." He states. 

She cocks her head to the side to think about it. 

"It will keep Dreadwing alive." 

This brought her mind out of its thoughts. 'Dreadwing' She thought to herself. 

"He's with the Autobots. They will protect him, as well he can protect himself." She says turning her head, but not her body. 

"Not if he comes looking for you."

Shelby knew what Shockwave was trying to do. Unfortunately it was working. She can't allow anything to happen to Dreadwing. 

"If I'm going to help you. I am going to need to go back to my home and get my equipment." She informs, turning around, arms crossed, staring Shockwave down. 

If he had a mouth, it would probably be formed into a smirk. 

"Lets go tell Megatron." 

And with that, he picks the girl up and they walk out of the lab. 

*--------------*

The yard was empty. The wind winding throughout the buildings, bringing up dust and leaves, scattering them all over the place. The shop was empty. Everything left exactly where it was. Dust was starting to settle on the equipment inside. The truck and trailer sat still broken on the inside. The fifth wheel had finally fallen though the bed of the truck. The weakness of the frame that was holding it finally caved in. This caused the gooseneck of the trailer to be finally been broken free of the fifth wheel after it fell though. It was now just leaning on the bottomed out truck. It just sat there, waiting for someone to fix it. The blanket is still in the same spot it was thrown on the couch. No one has been in here for some time. Same as with the house. Leaves scattered the porch. Cobwebs and dust collected on the windows and railings. The inside was dark and cold. Nothing has been moved in some time. A place that used to be full of life. Full of happiness and laughter. But now...now it is slowly falling apart.

Shelby sits at her desk, drawing up another design. She had to get this one right. Lately her ideas haven't been making Megatron happy. She just can't do it anymore. She rests her head in her hand. Grabbing a fistful of her hair in the process. 

"I don't know how much longer I can take this." She whispers to herself. A lone tear started form in her eye. 

"4 months." She starts, "4 months I've been on this God forsaken ship. And all I do is draw designs and make new equipment for Megatron to try and destroy the Autobots with. But They all end up failing." 

She gives a small smirk. 

"The only good part about it, is the only reason I'm still alive, is because he hasn't found out about what I've been doing. " She whispers. 

Instead of drawing a new design now, she starts a outline of Dreadwing. Adding all his details, from the sword on his back to the details on his power core. She drew him a lot. Especially at times like this, when she was running out of ideas. 

There is a knock on the door, then the sound of it opening. Shelby doesn't bother looking over. She doesn't care anymore who it was that came in. She never got any privacy. They wouldn't even let her go back to her home to get some of her equipment. Megatron didn't want the Autobots getting any ideas. For the past few months she has been trying to get back to them. She doesn't even know if they have tried to come get her or if Dreadwing ever made it. She quickly takes the drawing of him and puts it in one of the drawers in the desk with all the others. 

"Shockwave needs you in the lab." Says a honeyed voice. 

She knows the voice all to well. Always pretending to be nice about everything but is really good for nothing son of a bitch. 

"What does he want, Heels?" She taunts. She turns in her chair and looks up at Starscream as he starts to ball his servos up in anger. 

"It's commander Starscream to you!" He snaps. 

"Whatever." She gets up and walks to the ledge. Starscream stands there still fuming over what she said. 

"Are we going or not?" She shouts. He gives a forced smile and holds his servo out for her. She jumps on and they leave the room.

Starscream was the one she trusted the least, but unfortunately, if Knockout was busy she had to deal with him. Knockout was the only one closest to a friend to her on the ship. He made sure she had everything she needed. Though she never left the ship, Knockout always brought something back for her. Whether it was something she needed or just something to remind her from the outside. Soundwave rarely acknowledged her. He only came and got her if she was needed for emergencies. Which lately had been often. She was running out of ideas to try. They walked into the lab and 

Starscream immediately drops her on the counter closest to the door. Knockout and her rigged up a walkway system for her to get from the different equipment in the room. So Shockwave or Knockout wasn't always picking her up to take her from place to place. Shelby walks casually over to Shockwave. He seems to be in the middle of testing some formulas. 

"Whatcha need, Shocky?" She asks. She her hands in her pockets of her black skinny jeans and is leaning against a large cylinder of yellowish-orange liquid. The liquid is what the Predicon clones would grow in. 

"I need your small servos." He states in his monotone voice. Shelby raises her eyebrow at him. 

"What do you need my hands for?" She questions. 

"Come over here." He orders. 

She looks over at him, still a questioning look on her face. She is still unsure if she wants near him. 

"Now!" He raises his voice. 

She jumps at the tone and quickly makes her way over to him. In front of him is a machine. The machine is huge compared to Shelby. Well all the machines and equipment are bigger than her, but this one is about twice as tall as her. The closest one to her height. Before Shelby could protest, Shockwave had grabs her by the back of the shirt and lifts her into the machine. 

"What the hell, Shockwave!" She screams at him. 

"There is a few pieces of glasses stuck in the vents. I need you to get them out." He casually says. Shelby looks up at him in shock from down in the hole she is currently in. 

"Your kidding right?" She contests. 

As he looks at her, he cocks his head to the side. Confused on why the girl would be asking why he was kidding. When he clearly wasn't. 

"No that would be illogical. You are clearly small enough to pull them out. Its only logical for you to pull them out." He states. She gives a large huff in protest to doing this. 

"I'm not pulling glass out of the vents." She shrieks. 

"Why not?" He asks. She gives him a dumbfounded looked. 

"Seriously? Your really going to ask me why not?" She snaps. 

"You are the only logical option because of your size." He replies.

"My size maybe logical, but glass is sharp. There is no way I'm going to try and mess with shards half my size." She attempts to explain. 

Shockwave bows his head, trying to understand what she has said to him. After a few seconds of contemplating what she said, he nods his head. "Understandable." 

He says just before he walks away. Shelby looks up, her mouth open in shock, she brings her hands up in question then brings them back to her side. She turns around and puts her arms on the back of her head and starts to pace.

It is about fifteen minutes later and Shockwave finally returns. He found Shelby sitting in the middle of the machine, her hands wrapped around her legs and her forehead laid on her knees. She doesn't even realize the one-eyed giant has returned. With her head down he doesn't notice her crying. Her cry's are so quiet, they are almost silent. The tears running down her face are staining her pants, luckily they were black and no one would be able to see. Shockwave hears her give a small sniffle and wonders what she is thinking about. That got him thinking and he walks away again. Leaving the crying girl to be alone. 

*Flash back*

They found her laying on his stomach on the concrete floor of an abandoned building. Surrounded by blood and an odd bright blue liquid seeping out though open sores on her body. The investigators never found out what the liquid was or who did it. Whoever was occupying the building left no traces of ever being there. Not even foot prints around the building. Its as if she just appeared there. She wasn't dragged there or carried. They had to wear hazmat suits while inspecting her body. They learned quickly that the blue liquid burns skin like acid. When they turned her body over, her eyes were wide with fright. Her jaw was broken from being forced open. They noticed boils lining her tongue, cheeks, and throat. They must have forced the liquid down her throat. Some of the boils seemed to pop as they inspected it further. That's how they knew to put on hazmat suits, as one of the inspectors got the liquid on their hand and it started to get eaten away. 

She had very little clothes left on her body. They were ripped and torn. The only parts of fabric left on her skinny, malnourished body was her sports bra, that seemed burned and charred, then a pair of basketball shorts with different kinds of holes and tears all over. Besides the sores and boils, She had burns and different kinds of open wounds. None have seemed to heal properly. She hadn't been missing that long, but it only took a week for all this damage to be done. 

I was there when they found my sister. She was the forth child in the family. The third one to be found murdered. I had taken leave to help find her. I can still hear my mothers voice when she told me my sister had gone missing. We had barely gotten over my brothers murders. We weren't ready for this. The day I came home was full of crying and shouting. The four of us children that were left, huddled on the couch with my mother. My father was no were to be found. I assumed he was out looking. I sat on the edge, my older brother sitting with his arm around me and the twins wrapped around my mother. After hours of this, I left in a haste in my truck to go find her. I couldn't just sit there and cry. I had to do something. And that something was find her. 

It was torture for me to know that I was to late. I was always to late.

*back to reality*

Shockwave returned and this time he decided he needed to wake the girl. She is now pulling at her hair and rocking back and forth. She jerks back as she feels his pointy digit lightly press against her back. She wipes away the last few tears to run down her cheek. He pulls away, unsure of what to say or do. 

"Oh Shockwave, I'm sorry did I fall asleep?" She asks with a yawn and stretches her limbs. 

"Yes and it seemed to have made you act abnormal." He says slowly. 

"Oh it..it was just a nightmare, I get those.. every now and then." She struggles to say. He looks up thinking about what she said. 

"Anyway can you get me out of here?" She stands up and brushes dust off her ass. Ignoring her question, he moves to the side and grabs something. Shelby couldn't see what it was until he brought it over the machine and down to her. 

"What is this?" She questions holding a small black gadget. 

"It's a armor suit to protect you while you pull the glass out. As well as protect you from any harm." His monotone voice bellows down to her. 

She looks at the strange product. Looking it over, trying to figure out how it could be a suit. 

"And how does it work?" She wonders, full of curiosity. 

"Bring it up to your chest and press the pink bottom in the center." He tells her. 

She did as she told and before she could gasp, metal shot out surrounding her body. She can feel the cold metal attach to her skin, instantly warming as formed to her body. Once it was finished molding, she looks over her body. It is black with pink accents, the button that activated it was sitting right over the middle of her chest. She feels the metal, but it doesn't feel like she's wearing it. It is so light against her. She looks up at Shockwave, not sure what to say. 

"Knock your head forward." He says to her. 

She did as he said and a visor came down over her face. As she looks out of it, it seemed to tint when she looked into the light. 

"This is incredible." She breathed out. 

"I feel like Iron Man"


	9. Rescue Mission or Suicide Mission

"Lets do this." She explained. 

She walked over to where the first piece of glass was lodged. She carefully stepped down into the vent. With the new metal suit, she grabbed ahold making sure it wasn't going to actually cut her. When she realized it wasn't going to, she held tight and started to pull. 

"For a shard of glass, this is really heavy." She strained. 

She lifted her foot up and pushed against the wall. With one more grunt and a push, she fell back and shard fell on top of her. She gave a loud moan, which got Shockwaves attention, but before he would do anything the door to the lab opened up. Having no idea if Shockwave left or someone came in she yelled for help. 

"Shockwave? Was that Shelby I just heard yell?" Shelby recognized Knockouts appealing voice. 

"She's pulling glass out of the molecular machine." Shockwave casually said. 

"She's What?" Yelled Knockout. He ran over to the machine and looked inside. What he saw surprised him. 

"Um Shelby?" He asked suspiciously. 

He saw the glass shard laying on top of a black and pink body. He couldn't tell it was Shelby, he didn't know about the suit. He heard some mumbles coming from under the piece of glass. Knockout quickly reached in and pulled it off of the squished women. She retracted the suit and attempted to catch her breath. 

"Thank...You.." She said in between breaths. 

She stayed laying on her back. The suit was now back in the small gadget she got it in and was laying on her chest. She watched it rise up and down as she filled her lungs with air. 

"What happened? What is that small black thing on your chest? And what were you wearing." The questions from Knockout kept on coming. Shelby held up her hand telling him to stop. She slowly sat up and the gadget fell into her lap. 

"Can I come out now?" She asked now that she had her breath back. 

Knockout nodded and brought his servo down for her to step on. She got on her hands and knees and crawled on. She then proceeded to lay on her back again. He brought her up to his face and put a digit on her chest. 

"What are you doing?" She asked in a blank tone. 

"Checking your heart rate. You seem to be having trouble breathing." He explained. 

"Of course I'm having trouble breathing. A giant shard of glass just fell on me." She shouted pushing his finger off of her. He was taken aback by her. 

"And again I ask, Why was there a shard of glass on top of you." He fretted over her. 

"Oh because it is only logical that because of my size I was able to get into the vent and get the shard of glass out. You know because it was logical." She said with making quotations with her fingers. He opened his mouth as an understanding it was Shockwaves fault. "But he did make me this cool suit." She held up the gadget to him so he could see it. 

They walked over to the magnify glass so he could see it. As he was taking a look at it, he started mumbling about it. 

"Well it did save you, so I would say its safe to use." Knockout said handing it back to her. 

"Think with this we can convince Megatron to let me leave the ship?" She said excitedly. Not wanting to upset her, he just gave her a nod and a half smile. 

"Lets take you back to your berthroom so you can relax from your fun events today." He changed the subject and left the room. 

He didn't want her near when he started yelling at Shockwave about what he made her do today. Shockwaves only thought with logic not about what harm it could cause later. They started walking down the hallways and Shelby was talking to Knockout about the suit. She thought it was the best thing ever. She was also surprised it came from Shockwave. Knockout told her he would ask him later on why he made it for her. It wasn't like Shockwave to do things for a human. Maybe she was growing on him. 

Once they got to her room, and after she was set on her platform, she activated the armor again. She ran to the mirror in the bathroom and checked it out. Knockout sat with his arms resting on the shelf. 

"I wish Dreadwing could see me now." Her smile slowly faded as she mentioned him. 

"I know you miss him." Knockout whispered. 

Knockout knew all about Dreadwing and how she brought him back. He seemed to be the only one that would listen. Not only listened but actually cared about it. He thought it was fascinating on how she did it. She pushed the pink button and retracted the suit. She stared at it, sitting in her hands. There was almost no weight to it. She turned around and looked up at Knockout. 

"Do you think he's still alive? Do you think they got him to the generator in time?" She spoke in sadness. 

Knockout knows he made it but Megatron made it clear not to tell her. He wishes he could let her know he was. He wanted her to know he was looking for her. That he almost got crushed by him because he wanted her back so bad. 

She starts to sing, starting at a whisper, staring back at herself in the mirror.

I can see every tear you've cried  
Like an ocean in your eyes  
All he pain and the scares have left you cold  
I can see all the fears you face  
Through a storm that never goes away  
Don't believe all the lies that you've been told

Ill be right here now  
To hold you when the sky falls down  
I will always  
Be the one who took your place  
When the rain falls  
I won't let go  
I'll be right here

I will show you the way back home  
Never leave you all alone  
I will stay until the morning comes  
I'll show you how to live again  
And heal the brokenness within  
Let me love you when you come undone

*With Dreadwing*

I'll be right here now  
To hold you when the sky falls down  
I will always  
Be the one who took your place  
When the rain falls  
I won't let go  
I'll be right here

When daybreak seems so far away  
Reach for my hand  
When hope and peace begin to fade  
Still I will stand

I'll be right here now  
To hold you when the sky falls down  
I will always  
Be the one who took your place  
When the rain falls  
I won't let go

When the rain falls  
I won't let go  
I'll be right here

He remembered the first time she sang that song. He couldn't stop remembering it. Imagining it when he thought of her. Dreadwing never thought he would feel this way about someone, especially a human. He's been searching and searching since he woke up in the Autobots hanger. He only stopped when he needed energon and to recharge with the generator. The generator stays at the Autobots base. As much as he wants to stay at Shelby's home, Prime was right, it would be to dangerous for him to stay there. Ratchet has been monitoring her home since the trade. There has been nothing in the past for months. He flew over it the other day and it looked like a ghost town. 

The barn was in more ruins than the last time he was there. The roof was now all the way caved in. The wall at the end off the barn had fallen down completely. Nature had started to consume it. The house seemed to have a dark eerie look to it now. Leaves were scattered everywhere as it was now becoming fall. Everything looked abandoned. No one was there to keep it looking nice. The trails throughout the acres were starting to become overgrown. It hurt his spark to know that he couldn't do anything about it. That the women who lived there might never come home to fix it. It had made him more determined than ever. 

He was taking a rest on top of the base. Thinking about all of this. About how much he wanted her back. It was now that he decided he was going avenge her and his brother. Megatron may not have taken Skyquake from him, but he did take the girl who brought him back. A brave women who showed him kindness. She changed his spark. It was hard for him to finally realize it, but now he knew. Now he knew that he wasn't going to lose her too. He looked into the horizon. Hoping to catch a glance at the Nemisis. Hoping he would find it. He had too. 

"Dreadwing" Called Ratchet. 

"Dreadwing here." He answered. 

"We found some Decepticon activity." Ratchet explained. 

"On my way down." He said. He made his way down to the inside of the base. 

He walked over to the monitors to see where the activity was. Integrating with the others who have gathered around Ratchet. 

"Looks like they found another energon mine." Stated Arcee. 

"With our levels low we need to go." Optimus claimed. "Ratchet open the ground bridge." The whirring of the ground bridge opening was heard. 

"Can I come with? Maybe Dreadwing will flatten Knockout this time and I got to get pictures." Miko blurted. Dreadwing rolled his optics at her and continued thought the vortex. 

"Miko stay here." Bulkhead ordered, but knowing already that the small girl wasn't going to listen. 

Optimus was already through, Arcee and Bumblebee made there way with Bulkhead following last to make sure Miko didn't follow. 

On the other side of the bridge, Dreadwing, Optimus, Bee, and Arcee had already started fighting the cons. Dreadwing had Knockout pinned down. Dirt covering the two. 

"Where is she?!?!" Dreadwing snarled. 

"I don't know who your talking about." Knockout snickered to him. This only made Dreadwing more furious than he already was. 

"Don't toy with me Knockout!" He growled. 

Knockout got a hit in and the two were up. Knockout had his electric staff out, while Dreadwing was using his sword. They went back and forth, each getting a blow. Knockout was able to get a good stab at Dreadwing, which brought the angry bot to his knees. Knockout bent down in front of him, continuing to electrocute him. 

"She's much happier now. We are taking very good care of her." He whispered into Dreadwing's audio receptor after he finally stopped shocking him. 

"I know that's not true." Dreadwing huffed. Trying to catch his breath, he slowly stood up. 

Before there could be anymore arguing, the sound of screaming stopped everything. The other bots had already taken down most of the vehicons. 

"Miko!" Bulkhead yelled and started running to the voice. 

She was cornered by three vehicons. Scared, she started screaming, hoping they would hear her. Which they did and Bulkhead went to save her. 

"I told you not to come Miko." The sound of disappointment was heard as he talked. He walked with her back out to the rest of the fight. Knockout took this opportunity to flee the scene. Dreadwing wasn't going to let him get away that easily. 

"Soundwave, I could really use a bridge right now." He said after transforming into his vehicular mode. 

He hadn't noticed Dreadwing flying behind him. The blue and green swirling vortex opened. Knockout drove though. Just before it could close, Dreadwing was able to make it though. The minute Dreadwing flew in behind Knockout, he was attacked. 

"You dare come back aboard my ship!" Megatron sneered. Their blades clashing against each other. 

"Where is Shelby?" Dreadwing snapped. 

"I'll just kill you again and you can find out." Megatron bellowed. 

Megatron reached up with his sword. Dreadwing went for a kick to his abdomen. Unfortunately for Dreadwing, Megatron was faster and brought his sword on Dreadwing's leg. Severing his leg. It wasn't cut clean off. Only hanging by a few wires. Knockout ran to him, immediately starting to solder him back together. 

"Knockout! What are you doing?" Megatron dared him. 

"Get off of me Knockout!" Growled Dreadwing. He shoved him off. Megatron stood in front of Dreadwing, towering over him. 

"What are your last words?" He calmly asked. Megatron put his sword away and switched to his blaster. 

'Its happening all over again' thought Dreadwing, 'Except this time I failed to save someone I care about.' 

"My liege, before you kill him, wouldn't you like to know how Shelby was able to bring him back. She has yet to recreate it on some of the other vehicons. This might help her to remember better." Knockout intervened.

He didn't want to admit it, but he had grown to care for the girl as well. He knew she wouldn't last on the ship much longer if she found out that Dreadwing did parish. This is what's been keeping her alive and he knew it. He had watched her grow into a deep depression. She wasn't eating, barely moving around unless told to. The first time he saw her smile since she came aboard was when she got the suit. But he watched that quickly vanish as it came at the thought of Dreadwing. Megatron looked at him with anger and confusion but then he nodded. 

"You are right, Knockout. Send him into med bay and start collecting data from him. Make sure he is chained down and keep a close watch on him." With that Megatron left the bridge.

The vehicons dragged Dreadwing to the med bay. Lucky for them, he had passed out due to energon loss. Knockout came in behind them and stood in the back. Watching them chain him to the operating table. 

"Knockout, make sure Shelby knows we have him. I want her to know what could happen if she tries to make any new device she makes to fail. That Dreadwing will not make it out alive and neither will she." Megatron commed into Knockout's ear. 

"Yes...My liege." He was confused. 

'Shelby's making the devices fail? How is that possible?' He thought to himself. His servo up to his face, thinking hard about it. He then decided to go get her and ask her about it. He walked eagerly to Shelby's quarters. There were many questions coming to his mind. What didn't she tell him? Would she tell him? He got to her room and walked in. Not even bothering to knock. 

She was standing in front of her wardrobe. Her back to the door. She was searching for something to wear. Her wet hair trailing down her naked and scared back. The only thing she had on was a thin black thong and a pair of knee high black and pink stripped socks. She heard the door open and someone come in. She immediately grabbed a long sleeve shirt and pulled it over her. She wasn't quick enough, Knockout still noticed the scars that littered her body. Specifically the long deep dark scar that lined down her back. It started at her left shoulder blade the curved down to her left side, ending just above her hip. Knockout was taken aback by the scar and also that she was partially naked when he walked in. He mentally kicked himself, he knew he should of knocked. She stared up at him, knowing he saw. He had the same look anyone did when they saw the scar. 

"Knockout, why didn't you knock?" She asked quietly and nervously. 

"I'm...I'm sorry. I didn't mean too. I...I. Dreadwing is here. He came though our ground bridge looking for you." He couldn't think clearly. 

He had been angry at her, now he was sad for her. He wanted to know about the scar, but he also wanted to know about what Megatron had said. Her face seemed to light up and the sound of his name being said. She ran and put on a pair of gray skinny jeans and put her hair in a ponytail. She stood at the ledge waiting for Knockout to come get her. 

"Knockout!" She yelled. Getting his attention, he put his servo out for her to climb on. Which she didn't hesitate to do. 

"Are you okay?" She asked as he walked them down the halls to the med bay. 

"What? I'm fine. Just been a long day." He lied. He just didn't want to crush her spirit with asking her about the scar and what Megatron said. 

They walked into the med bay silently. The smile Shelby had put on her face, expecting to see the one thing she couldn't get her mind off of, vanished into thin air. There he lay out cold, energon leaking from multiple wounds on his body. She gasps at the sight of his left leg, hanging on by a few wires. It broke her heart to see him like this. 

"What happened to him?" She growled, "Why is he hurt?"

Knockout was afraid to tell her. 

"Knockout, tell me." Its almost like she read his mind. 

"He flew in behind me through the ground bridge. Megatron was ready for him and immediately attacked him. I'm sorry, Shelby. The only way I could save him was convincing Megatron to keep him so you could remember how you brought him and recreate it on others. I'll get started fixing his leg." Knockout put her on top of Dreadwings chassis. 

She crawled closer to his helm and stared at him. 

"I'm so sorry, Dreadwing,. I've been trying to escape, I've been making sure you or the Autobots got hurt or worse. I'm sorry. I've missed you so much and now I finally get to be with you again. I'll fix you, just like before. Don't you worry." She whispered into his audio receptor. She curled up in next to his neck. Her face in her hands, trying so hard not to cry. Knockout heard her sniffle and was right next to her. 

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly. 

"No, Knockout. I'm not fine. The one I care about most is on a medical table about to die again and I don't know what to do anymore. I have been holding on hoping to see him again and now when I finally do. Its on his death bed." She finally let go. Let the tears fall. She couldn't hold it in anymore. "I've lost everyone I've loved in the past 10 years. My entire family was murdered. Half my squad was killed in action. And now just when I thought things were looking up for me. I'm about to lose someone I didn't even know I needed." She cried. 

"Please don't cry." a hoarse voice called out. Shelby lifted her head up and turn. 

"Dreadwing?" She said wiping away a few lone tears. 

"I'm here and I'll never leave you again." He comforted her. 

A smile grew on her face. She turned around and hugged him the best way that she could. He brought his servo up and used a digit to try and rub her back. Trying his best to calm her down. 

"I missed you so much, Dreadwing." She confessed. 

"I missed you too, small one." He gave her a smile. A real smile. 

"While you two have your moment, I'm going to fix your leg." Knockout interrupted. 

"I guess a thanks are in order." Dreadwing started. 

"For what?" asked Knockout. 

"Saving my life." Dreadwing finished. 

"I did it for Shelby. You should thank her." Knockout continued with his work, not looking over at Dreadwing and Shelby. 

Dreadwing couldn't get a good look at the girl. She was still in the crook of his neck. No words were said between them. Nothing needed to be said.


	10. Break his Neck

Knockout finished repairing Dreadwings leg. Shelby had started to repair the minor cuts and scraps along his chassis while Dreadwing was in recharge. 

"Shelby I need to ask you something." Knockout started. 

"Of course, anything." She stopped what she was doing and looked up to him. 

"Are you doing something to cause the equipment you build...to fail?" He whispered the last part. 

It was so quiet Shelby almost didn't hear him. She looked up at him with a straight face. She realized she had been caught and it wasn't from Knockout. 

"Yes." She answered, in a straight monitone voice. 

Knockout looked away and bit his lip, clearly hoping for a different answer. Thinking for a moment, he looked back at her. 

"Why?" He asked, unsure why he did after he said it. He knew why. 

"I wasn't going to let Megatron destroy Dreadwing or the Autobots. Everything I created for him would of surely done just that. I can't let that happen. He should of never tried to get me to do his dirty work." She ranted to him. Knock knows how much she's been wanting to leave the damned vessle. 

"I just had to hear it from you." He said in shame. 

"Knockout help us. Help me. Escape with us." She walked to the edge of the examination table. He looked at her like she was crazy. 

"Are you out of your mind?" He tried to whisper. 

"You are not a decepticon. There is good in you. Especially after you told me about Breakdown. Dreadwing changed and I know you have to." She explained. 

She was right, he had changed. After Breakdown died, he realized how much he relied on him. Then when Shockwave came back, it made it harder to feel needed. The decepticons never cared about him. He was different than all of them. Shelby knew it. She made him feel wanted again. Though he would never admit it. 

"You have been there for me and you are my friend. Please come with us and help plan our escape." She pleaded. 

"I can't, Shelby. If Megatron found out about what I did. I'd be a dead con. I'd be hiding for the rest of my life." Knockout sighed. As much as he wished he could go, he knew he couldn't. At least not yet.

"I understand." She did understand. She knew where he was coming from. Dreadwing was the same way after she brought him back. 

"But I will help you. Or at least try too." He told her. 

She gave him a small smile as the conversation ended. She went back to buffing Dreadwing and Knockout started working on the other injuries he had. His chassis was buffed, his cuts have been soldered, his leg was whole again. Dreadwing was still in recharge. Shelby was sitting on him, hugging her knees. Taking in the view. It was hard for her to believe that he was really here. It had been four months since she had last seen him and now he was with her again. Knockout had left to do a mission for Megatron. So, it was just the two in the med bay. Shelby told him all about what had happened to her while she was on the Nemisis. Even though he was asleep she knew he was listening. 

"And Shockwave made me this amazing suite to protect me. He even made it black and pink. Its pretty awesome." She chattered. 

She sat there for a moment. Still trying to figure out how her life became to be like this. That was until Dreadwing started to stir under her. His deep ruby eyes flickered open. He gave a low groan, brought a servo up to his helm and rubbed it. Shelby stayed where she was to make sure he didn't get spooked. 

"Ugh, what happened?" He yawned. 

"You went into recharge after Knockout and I started to repair you. You needed it. When was the last time you charged with the generator?" She stood up and asked. 

"Yesterday" He told her bringing his head up to looked at her better. 

"Okay so we have at least 3 days to get you out of here before you need a recharge." She started pacing across his chest. 

"Um... Ratchet was able to calibrate my power structure to make the charge last longer. So it last about a week now." He revealed. He didn't want her to feel like she failed. 

"Oh okay. Well that's good then. We have some more time then." She pointed out. She put her index finger on her chin and the other arm behind her back, still pacing and thinking hard. 

"Your going to rub a hole in his chassis if you keep pacing like that." Knockout hollered at the pacing women as he walked in. She jumped as he startled her. This caused her to slip and slide down Dreadwing's side. 

"Whoa." She landed on Dreadwings servo. 

"Thanks Dreadwing." She thanked. She stood up and brushed herself off. He slowly sat up keeping a steady servo. 

"Your going to be sore for a little while and you can't be on your leg yet. I still want you to rest for a bit longer." Knockout ordered. 

Then the bay doors opened and walked in Megatron. 

"How is our guest?" He asked Knockout. Dreadwing brought Shelby close to his chest, making sure to protect her. 

"His leg is back together, and Shelby helped me buff out is paint job. Want him to look good for when he gets terminated." Knockout lied him about the termination idea. 

"I'm sure Shelby is happy to be reunited with him." Megatron sneered staring right at her. 

She stared back, glaring at him. Dreadwing kept her close, as Megatron walked closer. 

"Shelby, Now listen carefully," Started Megatron, "If you try to cause anymore machines to fail, there will be even more dire consequences than just a severed leg." 

With that, he turned and walked out the med bay. Shelby looked down, for some reason she felt guilty about it. Now She has to chose to either save Dreadwing or save the Autobots. They had to leave as soon as they could. She wasn't going to risk anymore lives. She will not let Megatron win. Megatron gave her a smirk and stalked out of the room. 

"Your the reason behind all those machines." Dreadwing looked down at her, surprise written all over his face. Her guilt ridden face started to form tears. 

"Dreadwing, I had to. Megatron would of killed me if I wouldn't have. But I made sure after a certain point they failed. I couldn't let the Autobots get hurt." She whimpered. He gave her a small smile. He believed her. 

"I trust you. I know you would never really do his bidding." He assured her. 

"That's cute and all. But now you really have to build a machine that works." Knockout enlightened them. He stood leaning back on the counter, his arms crossed. 

Shelby gave loud sigh. "Was that necessary?" Knockout questioned. 

"Yes, yes it was." Shelby smirked. 

"You always over exaggerate. Just fix up one of the ones you already built." He stated looking at his claws. 

"Hell no! I don't want Megatron to destroy the Bots. What's wrong with you?" She yelled to him. 

"I'm a con. Everything is wrong with me. Except my finish. I look gorgeous." He said sarcastically. Shelby gave a small chuckle. 

"Yeah only because I told you about a car wash." She stood in Dreadwings hand and popped out her hip as she crossed her arms. This made Dreadwing give a low snicker. Knockout waved her off, knowing he lost the fight. 

The rest of the day seemed to fly by. Shelby knew she should of been working on a new project, but she wanted to stay with Dreadwing. Knockout had been in and out of the bay, doing other work for Megatron and Shockwave. He was feeling quite jealous of the two. He didn't like the idea of Shelby spending all her time with Dreadwing. He missed the time they spend together. He didn't want her to leave either, but he knew it was for the best. He couldn't force her to stay. Well actually he could, but if he told Megatron about her trying to leave...He would kill her. Knockout didn't want that either. He decided it's probably best if he just stay out of it. It was about that time to head to recharge. He went to get Shelby and put her in her berthroom. 

"Come, Shelby time for recharge." He ordered. 

"Awwwww, please let me stay with Dreadwing." She whined. 

"You know Megatron wouldn't let that happen." He stated. 

He was right, Megatron would never let that happen. She accepted defeat and climbed up into Knockout's servo. Not without saying goodnight to Dreadwing and giving him a kiss on his cheek. She gave him one last wave goodnight and Knockout took her to her room. Once in the room, she was gently set down on her platform. 

"Thank you." She said to Knockout before he left the room. 

"Anything for you, Shelby." He whispered. 

He walked out of the room and the door closed behind him. She walked over to her wardrobe and changed into her pj's. She walked over the bed and laid down. The past events from today ran though her mind. Slowly, she let sleep consume her. 

Knockout walked slowly down the dark halls of the Nemisis. Todays events running though his processer. Her words seemed to melt into his spark. 'Come with us.' Those words played over and over. There is no way he could. Megatron would have his spark. The Autobots would never accept him. 

'What is happening to me? I'm a con. I shouldn't be thinking this way.' He thought back to himself. 

He slowly started to think more negative thoughts, making him more and more angry. He was so focused he didn't realize where he was going tell he ran into someone. 

"Frag, Knockout. Watch where you are going!" Shrieked Starscream checking himself for scratches. 

"Oh stop whining." Knockout yelled back at him. 

"What was shoved up your tailpipe?" Starscream snapped. 

"Dreadwing was." Knockout snapped. 

"D...Dreadwing is...is aboard?" Stuttered Starscream. He started cowering down, afraid to run into Dreadwing. 

"He's chained up in the med bay. Don't worry he won't hurt you." Knockout huffed. 

This pleased Starscream. He now brought up his hands and started thinking evilly. 

"Lets go pay him a visit shall we." Starscream said slyly. 

"He's injured, Starscream." Knockout expressed. 

"Then it will make it all the more better." He sang and started making his way towards the med bay. 

Knockout thought about just letting him go, but changed his mind and quickly followed. Dreadwing was in recharge as they walked in. The smile that was already on Starscream's face, grew bigger. 

"Well well well. What happened to him?" Starscream asked, his tone sarcastic. 

"Do you even care?" Knockout scolded. 

"Oh of course not. I should end his pathetic life right now. Let him join his precious Skyquake." He ranted. 

Knockout stood to the side, not really listening to Starscream rant and rant. Before Knockout could even react, Starscream was choking. Dreadwing was wide awake and had yanked the restraints clean off. Now he was grabbing Starscream by the throat. Squeezing tight, as tight as he could. His eyes glowing with anger. Starscream was struggling trying to loosen Dreadwing's grip. He was failing. It wasn't tell Shockwave walked into the room and ripped the two apart. Starscream held his throat, trying to keep the wires that were torn from tearing more. Energon leaked from his neck. Knockout grabbed a soldering gun to start repairing Starscream's neck. Dreadwing's servo was still clutched together, his lips pierced together in a scowl, optics locked on the whimpering mech. Shockwave pushed Dreadwing back and relocked the cuffs holding him down. Dreadwing struggled some against his hold. He wasn't done with Starscream yet.

Not yet.

*First POV*

"Sgt Bishop!" 

I heard my name being called. I put my pen down and shoved my manifest to the side. I look up from the desk to see Lance Corporal Fisher in front of me. 

"What is is Fisher?" I asked him. My voice hoarse and tone tired. 

"There is a satellite call for you. Its urgent." He bent down and whispered to me. 

"Well why didn't you say so?" I yelled and gestured for him to show me the way.

I followed him up the starts of the brick building. I took two steps at a time, praying the call didn't loose connection. I slid behind the desk that my Staff Sergeant sat behind. Him and his roller chair rolled out of my way. 

"Hello. This is Sgt Bishop." I spoke loudly into the satellite phone. 

"Shelby its your father." I heard his fearful voice. I bent down tell my elbows were resting on the desk. I took my free hand and put it against my forehead. 

"I don't like the sound of your voice." I said to him. 

"It's...It's the twins." He cried. 

"Dad, don't do this to me. Don't call me and tell me this crap. Are the police even doing there jobs?" 

I wanted to scream at him. I already knew what happened. I've already lost three siblings. The twins can't be gone too.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I wish It was a happy call. But the twins...The twins were found this morning." 

You could hear the tears in his voice. I felt tears coming. I did everything in my power not to cry. 

"Honey, you still there." I heard him ask. 

"Yeah, I'm here." I told him, "Dad I don't know if I can leave this time." 

"I understand. I know your important." He's making me feel guilty, like its my fault. 

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and my Staff Sergeant already knew what was going on. He had been with me though the last three murders. He gave me a strong nod. 

"I'll be on the next plane." Is all I said and hung up. 

I now had both of my hands flat on the desk. My face was contorted in anger. I stared down at that desk. If it were possible, I would have shot a hole through the desk with my eyes. I was more angry that more of my siblings have been taken away from me. I rounded up my thoughts and gave a nod to my Ssgt and left the room. 

*Time skip*

I wasn't sure if I wanted to see another dead sibling. I stood in the funeral home staring at the caskets up front. Closed caskets. The funeral home seemed empty, as other family members didn't want to be around us, the ones left. They are calling us cursed. They don't want to be around us anymore. The few that don't think that, are trying to help us, but efforts are futile. There are never any clues left at the crime scenes. The cops are even speechless. Everything had turned into a dead end. My mother is losing her mind. She can't even take care of herself anymore. I know she would like me to come home. Honestly I don't feel safe at home. I want to. I feel the need to go home and help, but my signed my life away. I have two and a half years left of this contract. I was going to reenlist again. But at the rate my family is dying off and an injury I got on my last deployment, I won't be able too. 

I stood there listening to the investigators who found the twins. They were only a year older than me. They chose to stay home on the farm and do online school. Supposedly they got done at the farm and went out with some friends to celebrate an engagement. They never came home. My mother didn't get worried at first, since it was the weekend and she knew where they were. Or so she thought. It wasn't until around dinner time she started to worry. She called and called. There were no answers. She called their friends, only two answered their phone. They hadn't seen them since the night before. My father hadn't come home yet. He was out on a fishing trip with some of his friends. He came straight home after my mother called him. 

They were found in an abandoned building, just like how my other siblings were found. I had flash backs of my siblings. The twins weren't the only ones found. Four of their friends were with them. I saw the crime scene photos. They weren't pretty. I wouldn't say as gory as the other murders, but still awful. The only reason you could tell who was who, was they still had their wallets or IDs on them. You could barely recognize the clothes they wore the night they went missing. Their faces and neck were what got the brunt of it all. It was as if they were attacked with acid. Bright blue liquid was oozing out of what was left of their jaw. The twins looked to be the first ones tried on. The liquid was more crusty and dried on their burned skin. Their skull could be seen through the rotting skin. It was a nasty site. I'm not sure if I could hold in my lunch to much longer. 

The other two that were with the twins, were still oozing. They were also still warm. The cops came to the conclusion, that whoever did this didn't like the results of whatever test they tried and flee'd the scene before the last two died. The coroner said that they laid there burning, in pain, before they bled to death. You could see the pain was still showing in their eyes in the pictures. How scared they were. They would never know why someone would do such a thing to them. It looked as if they were being experimented on. Whatever this blue stuff was, it is what was killing them. 

*scene change*

The world seemed to be burning. Bombs exploding around me. I was lying on the ground. The vehicle closest to me had been blown up and I, and a few others, were thrown a few feet away from it. The last thing I see before I passed out, was a blue and golden con named Dreadwing. He was standing a twenty feet in front of me. Walking my way. Why was he walking? He was staring at me. He had to know that I was hurt. I thought he cared about me. These questions circled in my mind, tell darkness consumed me. 

*Third POV*

Shelby woke up panting hard, trying to catch her breath. She sat up in her bed, checking her surrounding and herself. Making sure she still wasn't in a dream. The last part of her dream was different than all the rest she had ever had. Dreadwing had never been in any of her nightmares tell tonight. This confused her. She couldn't understand why. The same part of her nightmare was always the same tell tonight. Tonight, Dreadwing watched her get blown up. He watched her get injured. All he did was stare at her as if nothing had happened. As if nothing had ever happened between them. 

'It was just a nightmare' She told herself. 

She looked over at her clock and noticed that it was around one in the morning. She decided to get up and try and draw some plans up. She had to at least make it look like she was trying to please the war lord. No matter how much she didn't want to. Her spirits were back up and ideas were flowing, all thanks to Dreadwing. All thanks to his determination to find her. 

*Somewhere in the US*

Welders were crackling, drills whirring. The men in black step back and take a look at their work. His damaged eye slowly open, trying to adjust to the scene around him. 

"Welcome back, Sir." Says one of the men. 

"What have you done?" He looks down to all his men. 

"What we needed in order to save you, Silas." The same one says. 

"I'm on of them." Silas says, bringing his arms up, inspecting his new form. 

"The logical evolution of MECH's experiments and biotech. Your brain fused with the donor's nervous and skeletal system. The perfect meld of man and machine." Explained one of Silas's men. 

"Exquisite." Silas smirks, "Thank you all for your dedication and lifetime of service. But I now seem more suited to keep the exclusive company of titans." 

Silas transformed his servos into blasters and started shooting at his men. After he made sure every last one in the building had perished, he transformed and drove off.


	11. Everything is Your Fault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shelby see's her father after thinking he's been dead. She wasn't ready for the words that were about to come out of his new shell

"What is going on in here?" Megatron scolded. 

His powerful steps causing the ground to shake. Knockout continued to work on Starscream's throat, while Starscream pointed his finger in fear at Dreadwing. Megatron looked over at Dreadwing, to see him struggling against his binds. Anger blinded him to what was going on around him. The minute he got a chance he was going to rip Starscream to shreds. Shockwave began to explain what was going on when he walked in. Megatron stood there listening, nodding as acknowledgment that he understands. 

"Tell Shelby she might want to start working faster. As I might have to get rid of Dreadwing again to ensure cons stay alive." Megatron looked over at Starscream. "And as for you, Starscream, Stay way from the med bay, unless necessary." 

Starscream cowered away in fear. 

Knockout finished with Starscream and Starscream ran out of the med bay, not taking a look back. Dreadwing tried his hardest to get out of his hold. 

"Soundwave collect the girl and bring her to the med bay." Megatron commed. He brought his digit down from his audio receptor, "I want extra security around here. Make sure he does not leave that table." 

And with that he walked out of the room. Shockwave had also left the room. Leaving only Knockout and a struggling Dreadwing. 

"You know he's a traitorous piece of scrap." Dreadwing scorned. 

Knockout looked over at him, keeping a straight face. 

"He has no honor, no loyalty. He only thinks of himself." Dreadwing continued. 

"He's a con. What do you expect? Aren't we all like that?" Knockout sassed. 

This angered Dreadwing even more. Shelby told him how Knockout was to her. How he had taken care of her. How he put her before him. Knockout wasn't the same flashy, egotistical brat he used to be. So why is he still acting like it in front of him. 

"Shelby told me different." Dreadwing. Knockout looked away in shame. 

"What did she tell you?" He quietly asked. 

"I didn't believe that she was talking about you. You cared for her when I couldn't. I am in your debt for that." He reminded him. 

"Well the way she talked about you didn't sound like you either." Knockout huffed back. 

"I will admit my change. I didn't want to be apart of the decepticon cause anymore. After I planned to kill Starscream, I planned on leaving for good." Dreadwing admitted. He wasn't ashamed anymore. He was happy he changed. He changed for the better. 

"I have not changed! I am a decepticon!" Knockout yelled at him. He strutted over and got in Dreadwings face. 

"I suggest you get out of my face." Dreadwing warned.

"I will do what I want. This is still my medical bay." Knockout was losing control of his anger. 

"I was only doing what I was told. I was put in charge of her." Knockout continued. 

"Then why did you care for her? Why does she think of you as a friend?" Dreadwing asked. 

Knockout scoffed at this. "I do not care for her. We are not friends. I was only following orders. She is just some fleshling, who has done nothing but be a burden." Knockout ranted. 

"Is that true, Knockout?" A feminine voice rang out. 

Soundwave slowly walked in with Shelby on his servo. Her arms were at her side, she was looking up at Knockout with her bright blue, saddened eyes. Her mouth was open just a bit from shock. Knockout turned fast and stared wide eyed at her. Guilt filling his processor. He knew he couldn't say no with Soundwave standing there. He would have to lie to her. He would have to break her heart. He opened his mouth to talk, but nothing came out. He couldn't speak. Not a word came out of his vocalizer. 

"It is true." Shelby looked away in disappointment.

She couldn't look at him anymore. Her heart, which was starting to mend back together, was shattered into a million pieces, again. She told herself she wasn't going to cry. She wasn't going to show her hurt anymore. She put on a straight face and decided she was going to escape. Her and Dreadwing were going to escape before the week was up. She looked up at Knockout, he quivered in fear. Her eyes seemed to go black. They lost all emotion. 

"Take me to Dreadwing, Soundwave." Her voice dead.

Soundwave walked past Knockout and handed her to Dreadwings outstretched servo. Soundwave brushed past Knockout as he left the room. Knockout wanted to turn around. To tell her it was all a lie. But he couldn't find the words to say it. 

"Knockout to the bridge." Megatrons voice was heard throughout the ship. This gave him the excuse to not say a word and leave. 

As soon as Knockout was out of earshot, Shelby and Dreadwing started making a plan. 

Dreadwing lowered Shelby to the ground. She had her suit on her and thought it would be a good idea to use it for this. Dreadwing couldn't move yet because of his leg. So, Shelby went alone. She planned to scope out the halls, maybe get to a communication dock. She needed to get ahold of the Autobots. She was able to sneak around the vehicons with ease. She crept down the halls of the Nemisis. Keeping out of site. She wasn't to sure where she was going. She was always carried where she needed to go. It wasn't tell she heard Megatrons voice that she knew where she was. 

"Knockout, What is this abomination?! And why have you brought it here?" Megatrons voice rang out. 

Shelby slowly crept up near the bridge. Then another voice was heard. One Shelby never thought she would hear again. 

"I am Silas, as in Cybernetic life augmented by symbiosis. I come with a proposition." She knew that voice all to well. It sounded just like him. 

"This is the human who dissected Breakdown." recapped Knockout switching his servo to his buzzsaw. 

"Please, my liege, allow me to return the favor." Anger overflowing his processor. 

"I propose that you not overlook the one asset that provides Optimus Prime an advantage at least, on this world." Silas remarked. 

"And that would be?" asked Megatron. 

"The human factor." 

This made Megatron laugh. "Look around you, Silas! I command an army from a mighty warship. What could a human possibly offer?" Megatron scoffed. 

"I am no ordinary human, and this is no ordinary weapon." Silas explained to Megatron, giving him a smirk. 

Shelby was lost in thought listening to the voice. When he stopped talking it made her come out of her trance. She wanted to listen to him talk more. Though it was a bit more gruff than before. She had so many questions. She ran out of where she was hiding. 

"Father?" She questioned as she slowed down as she got closer. 

Silas whipped around to find the source of the voice. His eyes were wide, for he had not heard that voice in some time. He continued to looked around. 

"Down here, dad." She yelled up to him. He looked down at the small female. 

"Shelby! How did you get here? Your supposed to be with Dreadwing." Megatron snapped. 

"Dad?" Questioned Starscream and Knockout at the same time. 

"I thought you were dead." Shelby ignored Megatron and the murmuring of the others. Silas didn't speak, he wasn't sure what to say. "How did you survive? They told me your body was to damaged to identify, but the only reason they knew it was you was because your wallet had been found on the body. How? Did you just leave mom and Brandon to die? I was told about poor Breakdown. Did you kill him too? I know you attempted to dissect him. What happened to you?" She continued to ask countless questions. She wanted answers. Anger and sadness building up in her. She tried hard to remain emotionless. It was becoming difficult. 

"Your not supposed to be here. You were never to get involved." He finally spoke. 

He seemed nervous, possibly scared as well. His last remaining child was standing in front of him. Out of all the things to happen. He never expected this. 

"Is that why you faked your death, Colonel Bishop?" She demanded, refusing to call this man her father. 

"I thought you got out of the military. We all thought you did. What else don't I know? Tell me!" She screamed. 

The cons surrounding them had backed up now. Giving the two space. Megatron wasn't even sure if he wanted to intervene now. 

"There is a lot you and the rest of the family didn't know about me." He seemed almost ashamed to talk to his youngest child. "And I didn't leave your mother and Brandon to die, I was the one who killed them." 

The whole room seemed to freeze. Shelby didn't know how to think or feel. She didn't want to believe this. This was not her father, whoever this man was, he was the devil in disguise. 

"Now I think you've seen to much." Silas sighed and before anyone could think, he pulled out a giant hammer that used to be Breakdowns. 

Shelby saw her life flash before her eyes. She didn't care anymore, if something were to happen to her. She stood looking up at the hammer. Its seemed to go in slow motion. Everything seemed to slow down. Visions started to cloud her head. She saw her family run though her mind. Starting before the murders started. Then the blood, the broken bodies, the pain and suffering. She watching in order of their deaths. Her two oldest brothers, the first two to go. Then the forth child, her sister, died still showing fear on her face. The twins skulls showing though the acid burns. Her brother and mother, and who she thought was her father, were found together, already buried. But whoever did it, didn't do a very good job, for a hiker found them the next day. 

*Flash back*

He died from defense wounds. Like he was protecting someone. They knew the minute the dug up my mothers body. Out of all the body's found, hers had to be the worse. She had surgical wounds all up her body. She was missing an arm and her left foot up to her knee. On her arm, it looked as if someone who was very skilled, probably already a doctor, had tried to attach something. From looking at her leg, it had a metal alloy prosthetic attached to it, it was probably something along as a prosthetic as well. Either it didn't work or it did and she fought back, it was ripped clean off from the stitches. You could still see where the small thin wire that held it together was torn. Where the prosthetic attached to her knee, it was starting to become infected. There were wires that were poorly connected to her knee's nerves. Her whole body was also starting to turn a greenish-blue color, showing that she had been dead for more than a twenty-four hours. 

My brother tried to protect my mother. He tried to keep her safe. In the end, its what killed him. They told me he had been dead longer than my mom. Only by maybe a day. He was further along in the decomposition process. His body looked bruised, from turning different shades of green and blue. He had taken quite a few beatings. There was a large cut along one of his main arteries on his neck. He died from blood loss. Because he was protecting my mother, she had to watch the only son she had left, die in front of her. There was nothing she could do about it. 

They found another set of remains with them. There was almost nothing left of the body. They only knew it was my father was because of the wallet that was found in his pants pocket. I was told he died last. His body was fresh only just starting to decompose. But it was the rotting of his skin that made it look like he was dead for weeks. His bones showing though his skin, his eyes falling out of his sockets. Because his eyes were still there and what skin wasn't burning in acid, made it known it was a fresh kill. The investigators had a hard time telling me about my fathers body. 

I didn't know they were even missing. I hadn't heard from them in a few weeks. Which was normal. I had just talked to them two weeks prier, so I didn't think of this happening. No one in our family talked to us anymore, so why would anyone know they were missing. I became broken and lost. I fell into a deep depression. One that I wasn't sure I would be able to get out of. I went on emergency leave to take care of the burials. I had my father and mother cremated, per their wishes. Their urns stood on the mantel above the fireplace. My brother was buried with the rest of my siblings. On the east side of our childhood home. I knew my time in the military was over now. I had to go back home and protect it. I had to make sure that I wouldn't be next. 

I would never know why this happened. 

Why my family was targeted. 

Why I was left out.

*End of flash back*

Everything started to close in on her. She was ready to die, but when the hit from the large hammer didn't come, she didn't know what to make of it. She looked up and saw a Blue body covering her and heard the vibrating from the hammer hitting his metal. Dreadwing quickly grabbed her and started to run. 

"Now would be a great time for that ground bridge." Dreadwing said into his comm. 

Shelby looked at him confused. One Dreadwing was running, and Two who was he talking to. Before she could get her answer, a blue and green vortex formed in front of them and the two ran through. 

The world around her seems to be moving in slow motion. She couldn't focus on what's going on around her. The only thing she could hear was the beat of her own heart. It was like a large drum pounding in her ears. Everything was rushing past her, but she knew she wasn't running. It was like she was floating but she couldn't figure out how. Nothing seemed to make sense to her. She tries to look up, but couldn't move. She was frozen. The bright electric green and blue vortex caused a shiver to run down her spine. It was only for a few seconds and they landed on the other side. The world slowly came back to her. She realized she was being carried by Dreadwing. He had her up near his face and was trying to talk to her. She still couldn't hear what he was saying. She only saw his mouth moving. She stared at his lips moving, trying to understand. She opened her mouth to try and talk, but nothing came out. She tried hard to focus, but instead of the world coming back to her, darkness consumed her and she fell back against the large metal hand.

"Ratchet, what's happening? What's wrong with her?" Dreadwing questioned. He looked down at her, holding her close to his spark. 

"I need you to bring her over here. June will help asses her." Ratchet started walking over to a small gurney. June already waiting. Dreadwing brought her over and laid her down gently. 

"She passed out from shock. What happened while she was with the Decepticons?" June looked up at Dreadwing. 

"Megatron was using her to create new weapons." Dreadwing started. 

"But none of those weapons worked. If Shelby made them, you all would be dead." Interrupted Miko. 

"She also caused them to fail after a certain point of them being used. Though Megatron figured out what she was doing and was going to kill both of us, if she didn't create one that would work..." He went on to continue what went on while on the warship. When he told them about Silas and how he was Shelby's father. 

"Wait, Silas is her father? No way?" Smokescreen freaked. 

"Her whole family was murdered. And he was behind it?" Arcee said confused.

"Is that why Shelby passed out?" Raf asked. 

"That kind of news would put anyone in shock. She had so much processing in her brain, that her body didn't know how to react. So, it shut down. She will be fine, but I can't say anything about her mental health right now. She will need to see a phycologist. After this kind of experience, I doubt she will ever be the same again." June explained. 

Dreadwing looked away in shame. "This is all my fault." He whispered. 

"This is not your fault, Dreadwing. You saved her from a much worse fate. She is going to need your more now than ever. She would not want you to think down on yourself." Optimus declared. 

Dreadwing looked back over at Shelby. She looked as if she was sleeping peacefully. For the first time in ages. 

*Shelby's mind*

"I killed them." Silas's voice echoed in the darkness of my mind. 

He killed them. I still don't know if he killed the others, but I'm sure he was in on it. They are all gone, because of a man I used to call father. There are so many unanswered questions. I stood in the middle of the darkness. His voice still ringing in my mind. My siblings start to form in the darkness. My brothers and sisters. They are all smiling at me. I wipe a tear out of my eye and smile back. I start trying to walk to them. I just want to feel them. I want to know if they are real. I need a hug or something. I miss them so much. As I start to get closer, I feel something change in the air. I watch as their skin on their body's start to deteriorate. Their smiles turn into horror. I try and run away, but I can't move. My feet seem glued to the floor. 

I fall down, I try and try to get up. I scratch and claw at the ground, trying to get away. The decomposed body of my siblings start circling me. 

"Its your fault, you know." They say in unison. 

"You wanted to leave and do your own thing. You wanted to become something better. You left us to die." They cried out. 

I was crunched in the fetal position, covering my head. Tears are streaming down my face.

"I didn't do anything. I didn't know that would happen." I whimpered to myself. 

"You were never there. You left us. You were to late. It will always be your fault we are dead." They continued. 

"I'm sorry." I cry. 

*Back to the bots*

"She has brain activity. I'm surprised she hasn't woken up yet." June mentioned. 

Dreadwing was seated on the berth next to Shelby. Ratchet was finishing up patching him up from his fight with Megatron and Knockouts incomplete patch job. He didn't do a bad job, Dreading was able to get Shelby back to the Autobots. 

"When was she supposed to wake up?" He asked the nurse. 

"She should of been up maybe 10 minutes ago. There must of been more damage done than we can see." June wondered. 

"Well Silas did try to kill her." Dreadwing stated. 

"Either way. It's been over an hour. But she could also be exhausted. So her body might be trying to rejuvenate itself." She explained. 

"Could her nightmares have something to do with it?" Asked Ratchet. 

"Nightmares?" Dreadwing raised his voice. "What nightmares?" 

"The first night you two stayed here, I was up checking on you and I heard her talking in her sleep. The she woke up panting and when I asked her about it. She just told me it was a nightmare and she gets them often." Ratchet explained. 

"That could be a possibility. She could be lost in a dream like state. I need to get her to a real doctor. She needs a scan done on her brain." June stated. 

"But I won't be able to see her. I can't be with her when she wakes up. You can't take her away." Dreadwing pleaded. 

"Dreadwing, she needs a real doctor. You do want her to get better don't you?" June argued, but she didn't want to upset the titian. Dreadwing wants Shelby to get better, but he also wants to be with her. 

"Take her." Dreadwing says and turns and walks away. June watches him leave. 

"Ratchet think we could transport her in the back of your vehicle mode?" She asks the medic.

*Shelby's mind*

"Hello! Is anybody out there?" I yell in the darkness that surrounds me. 

"Anybody?" 

I feel like I've been trapped in here for days, years. I don't even know anymore. I just want to get out. I'd be just fine with my siblings tormenting me again. If it means I'll have company. The silence is killing me. 

"Hello!!!" I scream. 

Nothing. Nothing but silence and darkness. I sit down on the floor and pull my knees into my chest. I had no more tears to cry. I hung my head down low, resting on my knees. I feel something rest on my shoulder. I immediately look up in fear and back away. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you." I recognize the soft sweet voice. Fear slowly leaves my face and new tears start to fall. 

"Mom?" I question. 

"It's me baby." She says sweetly resting her hand on my cheek. I lean into her touch. It's just as I remember, smooth and warm. 

"Mom, I'm scared." I tell her, letting myself fall apart. 

"I know honey. I wish you didn't have to be apart of this." She says to me. 

"What happened to dad? Why did he kill you and Brandon? Did he kill the others too?" I questioned. 

"We lost dad a long time ago. It only took me years to find out. I don't have very many answers for you. I know you want to know." She looked away from me as she said this. I dropped my head. This is just my mind. She is just a figment of my imagination. She only knows as much as I do. 

"I love you, baby." She hugs me close and kisses the top of my head. 

"I love you too, mom."

*Back to reality*

Ratchet and June get Shelby to the hospital in Jasper, Nevada. She has him pull up by the emergency doors, so she will have help getting Shelby out. They immediately rushed her inside. June told Ratchet to go back to base, she will contact them of any changes. Without a word, he drove off. June went back in and started to talk with the other nurses and doctors. Telling them what they needed to know. Of course leaving out the Autobots and Decepticons. They sent Shelby in right away to get a Cat scan. They needed a clear view of her brain. One doctor thinks she might of put herself in a self induced coma from the trauma. June bit her lip in worry. Dreadwing would not like to hear that.


	12. Come back to me

Dreadwing continued to pace throughout the base. It's been an hour since Ratchet came back from dropping Shelby and June off at the hospital. They have yet to hear anything. 

"Heard anything yet, Jack?" Dreadwing stopped pacing for a moment to ask the black haired boy. 

"Not since you asked 10 minutes ago. I'm sure she is fine. They are probably running a bunch of test to cross everything off the list." Jack assured him. 

Dreadwing gave a low scowl and continued to pace. He didn't like not being able to be with Shelby. She had become his world. He just got her back and now she's gone again. 

"Its finished." Ratchet boosted from another part of base. 

"What's finished, Ratchet?" Miko asked. 

Ratchet walked closer to the upper deck the humans hung out on. He held a tiny microchip in the palm of his servo. 

"Uh what is it?" Miko dully asked. 

"This will let Dreadwing be able to go be with Shelby in the hospital." Ratchet exclaimed, excited about his little invention. 

"You were able to complete it. Well done, old friend." Optimus gave Ratchet a pat on the back. 

Dreadwing stopped pacing and walked over to the group. Curious on how such a tiny chip could get him into the hospital. 

"I will have to surgically install it, but once its in you will be able to become human to be with Shelby." 

Dreadwing gasp, this could be the best news he heard all day. "Do it." He ordered. 

*At the hospital*

"From what we can see, nurse Darby. She's perfectly healthy everywhere else. Unfortunately, I believe she has suffered extreme trauma and her brain has just shut down to try and understand what's going on around her. She just needs some time to wake." Said one of the doctors. 

June let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "So she is not in a coma?" She had to make sure. 

"No, just resting. We will need to run more test once she is awake. From what you told me, she is going to need help processing what she has had to deal with." He answered. 

"Thank you, Doctor." She thanked. He gave her a small nod and walked away to help with other patients. 

"I'm looking for Shelby Bishop." 

June heard a familiar voice say down the hall. She stepped out of the room to see who it was. 

"I'm sorry only family can visit her at this moment." A nurse told the man. 

"I am her family!" He yelled angrily at her. 

He was tall and muscular. He wore black combat boots and fit blue jeans. He was wearing a plain golden V-neck t-shirt with a blue and golden leather jacket. His hair was black with highlights of blue and blond. The sneer on his face and the cold look in his ruby red eyes told June exactly who he was. 

"Nurse he's good. He's with me." June interrupted the scene. 

The frightened girl gave her a nod and Dreadwing followed her. 

"How are you...you human?" June asked silently. 

"Ratchet created a small device to make me human. So I could come see Shelby." Dreadwing explained. 

"You must really love her?" June teased. 

Dreadwing looked at her in confusion. He never thought of himself loving someone. 

"I don't know about that." He contested. 

June just gave him a small smile as they walked into Shelby's room. He stopped at the edge of her bed, looking down on her sleeping form. She looks so peaceful. Like she was no more in pain. All he wanted to do was lay down with her and hold her close. 

'Is this what love feels like?' he asked himself. 

He walked around the side of he bed and ran his hand up the sheets tell he got to her hand. It lay lifeless next her body. He ran his fingers over her hand unsure of what he should do. 

"Hold her hand." June whispered from the end of the room. 

He looked up at June with confusion. She gave him a 'go ahead' wave with her hand. He looked back down and slowly wrapped his hand around hers. His hand shaking as he tried to hold on tight. He fell to his knees and brought her hand to his lips. He placed a soft kiss on her hand. 

"I promise I won't let go. I promise I will always be here. I will be here when you awake. I promise." His voice soft and sweet. 

June felt her heart melt at the sight. She took her leave, to let the two have some privacy. 

*Time skip*

Dreadwing had his head resting on the bed next to Shelby. His hand still intertwined with hers. He must of fallen asleep for he didn't realize the three children had walked into the room. 

"Don't wake him." June warned in a whisper. 

"They look so peaceful." Miko cooed. 

"I think we came at a bad time." Jack offered. 

"Its okay you can stay." Dreadwing opened his eyes and looked up at the three. 

They each gave him a nervous smile. For the first time since he landed on this planet, he gave them a small smile back. 

"The bots are worried about both of you." Jack told him as they walked in and sat down on the chairs on the other side of the room. 

"The doctors say she will be alright. She just needs some rest. It's when she wakes that we need to worry." June tired to comfort them. 

The children stayed for a few more minutes. Then it was time for them to go home. It was just Dreadwing and Shelby alone again. He rested his chin on his arm, looking up at the beauty laying in front of him. He sat up and leaned in close to her. He lightly moved a strand of hair that was laying over her face. 

"I hope you come back to me soon. I miss you." He whispered. 

With that he could of sworn he saw her eyelids twitch a bit. Sadly it looked as it if could of also been his imagination. 

*Time Skip*

A few days pasted and there had been no change. Dreadwing never left her side. June visited when she was working at the hospital. He heard that Ratchet was working on a way to make more chips. So the others would be able to walk among the humans. The doctors took Shelby to get another cat scan today. They say it was to see if any damage was starting to show. Dreadwing waited in her room. He paced back and forth until she came back and once she was back, he went right back to where he was before. Sitting by her side, hold her hand close to him. He wondered what was going on in her mind.

*Shelby's mind*

I feel as if I've been wondering in darkness for weeks. I wish for once to see sunlight. I wish for company. Since I saw my mother, its been nothing but silence. Why couldn't the monster who used to be my father just kill me and get it over with. This is worse than death. Though I was saved by someone who actually cares for me. At least I think he does. He said he missed me. I know I miss him very much. Will I ever see him again? Will I be stuck in this dark void forever. I can scream and all it does is echo back at me. 

"God this place is so annoying. First it was like a horror show. Now its just dull and boring. I want to go home! Can anybody hear me?" I yell into nothingness. 

Every once and while I do hear voices. I think it's just because I'm going crazy, but I swear I've heard Dreadwing's voice every now and then. I could just be losing my mind. 

"I promise." His voice echos throughout. 

"I miss you." He cries. 

I want to tell him I'm here. I want him to know I miss him too. I want to get out of here, but I don't know how. 

"Get me out of here!" I yell some more. I keep walking. Hoping I will find my way out.

*Back to the hospital*

"Is there anyway to make her wake up?" Dreadwing asked one of the nurses who came to check on her. 

"We can't force her to wake. That is something she has to do on her own." She answered. 

"Is there ways to help her wake up?" He whispered looking at the sleeping women. 

"Just keep talking to her, holding her hand. Remind her of memories, fun memories. Its a good way to guide her to want to wake up." She explained to him, then she left the room. 

Dreadwing went and sat back down in the chair next to Shelby's bed. He started to think of the memories they made together. It was mostly filled with trying to find each other. Her repairing him. Her singing. 

"Her singing." Dreadwing thought out loud. 

"Her song." He got up quick and ran out of the room. 

When he came back he was dragging June in behind him. 

"What is it Dreadwing?" She questioned. 

"I need you to play a song off your phone. I think it might help guide her back to me...to us." He said rather quickly. 

"Oh! Good idea. What song?" June pulled out her phone and got ready to type the title of the song in. 

"Right here by Ashes Remains." He told her, staring at Shelby. 

Praying to Primus that this would work. June started to play the song. Dreadwing stood next to the bed, holding Shelby's hand, staring down at her, hoping for a sign that she was listening. The song was almost over. Dreadwing was losing hope. He looked away, sadness forming on his face. A lone tear peaking out of his eye. 

"This was supposed to work." He whispered. 

Still holding her hand, he felt a squeeze. He brought his head up in surprise and quickly looked down at Shelby. Her eyes were open and staring back at him. 

"Shelby?" He wasn't sure if this was just another trick. 

"It is I, Dreadwing." She gave him a small smile. The tear began to roll down Dreadwing's face, but this time it was for happiness.

The doctors started to rush in, pushing Dreadwing out of the way. He knew they need to do their job, but he didn't want Shelby out of his sight. 

"Dreadwing!" Shelby cried out. 

"I'm right here. They need to make sure you okay." He tired to comfort her. 

They were asking her tons of questions. Most of which she couldn't answer. She didn't want to answer. She didn't want to be here. So she chose to be silent. She put on a straight face and looked straight ahead. Ignoring the doctors. 

"Shelby we need you to speak to us. We are going to be sending you to see a phycologist. I think it will do you some good." Said one of the doctors. 

Shelby turned her head and looked him straight in the eye. Giving him a glare. A glare that would of made anyone want to be dead at the moment. 

"I'm sorry, Doc. But I don't think she would like that." Dreadwing told him. 

"After what has happened to her, she needs to seek treatment." The same doctor told Dreadwing. 

"You can't make her. She's not even from here. Maybe she would rather see her own doctors back home." He stated. 

"She is under my care and is unable to leave until I release her." The doctor walked closer to Dreadwing. 

"She clearly doesn't want to be here. So maybe you should release her." Dreadwing suggested glaring at the doctor. 

"Okay, I think you should step out." June intervened. She grabbed ahold of Dreadwings arm to try and get him to leave the room. 

"No! I will not leave Shelby." He yelled angrily. 

"She will be fine. The doctors are just doing their job." June assured him. 

He angrily followed June out of the room and started to pace. 

Shelby sat in the bed, trying to ignore the doctors. They kept asking her question after question. Finally she had enough. 

"I just want to go home! I have been stuck in my mind for way to long and all I want is to go home. And a drink. Jack and coke would do just fine right about now." She screamed at the doctors standing in front of her. 

Each one took a slow step back. They started trying to explain what they needed to do, before she should go home. 

"Blah blah blah. I don't care. I'll go see a doctor in my own town." She yet again screamed at them. 

"Fine, but we want to keep you overnight. Just to make sure everything else is fine." Shelby gave him a huff and looked away. 

The doctor looked at all the others and with a nod they left the room. 

Dreadwing immediately ran back in the room after the last doctor left. Shelby was laying down on her side and staring out the window. Her crystal blue eyes now a dark Navy blue, they look lifeless and emotionless. Dreadwing looked over the bright and happy girl he used to know. The girl in front of him now was nothing he'd ever seen before. He couldn't read her face, he couldn't tell what she was thinking. He is almost afraid to go near her. He gave a low cough to let her know he was there. Unsure if he should go near. She looked over at him, giving him recognition, then looked back at the window. He went over to her and sat in the chair next to her. She reached her hand out. He was unsure what to do or why she was doing that. She shook her hand trying to tell him to hold it. He quickly put his hand in hers. She gave a light squeeze. 

There was no talking, no crying, no laughing. There wasn't anything. Shelby stayed emotionless. She never moved from her position. Dreadwing kept a hold on her hand. He never had to deal with something like this. He wanted to talk to her, but she didn't look to be in the mood. The night went on like this. Eventually after it started to get dark. Shelby's hand loosened it's hold on Dreadwing. Dreadwing looked up and noticed she had fallen asleep. He let out a long sigh. Glad she is getting some rest. He felt some feelings he never felt before. His spark wanted him to act out on these impulses he was having. Telling him to lay with her, to hold her close. If this was any normal circumstances he probably would of. Though the way Shelby was acting tonight, there was no way he was going to try. 

Screaming could be heard thought out the floor they were on. Shelby's screams for help woke everyone up. They were defining and painful. Dreadwing tried to wake her. He shook her hard and tried to talk to her. She wouldn't wake up. The doctors and nurses ran in to see what was going on. No one was able to wake the terrified woman. Dreadwing decided to try something, he got in bed with her and held her close to him. He gave her a kiss on the forehead. She awoke in a panic, trying to figure out where she was. She felt her body, as if unsure if she was alive or whole. Dreadwing put both of his hands on the sides of her face and made her look at him. She immediately started to cry. She broke down into a thousand tears. Her hands covering her face, she leaned on Dreadwings chest. Dreadwing put his arms around her and held her close. He started to rock her back and forth, telling her its okay, that he is there for her. 

"Please lay with me?" She asked through sniffles. 

He looked down at her and gave her a small smile. 

"Of course." He said calmly, though on the inside his spark was dancing with joy. They laid down in the small hospital bed. 

"Thank you." She said softly. 

"For what?" He asked. She grabbed ahold of his shirt. 

"Being here." She finally answered. 

"I will always be here for you." He kissed her forehead. 

"Now, try and go back to sleep." He told her as she gave a small yawn. 

"I'm afraid too." Her body shivered. 

He brought her in closer, resting his head on hers. 

"I know." Is all he said and they were back to silence. 

He couldn't fall asleep, knowing Shelby couldn't. He wish he could protect her from her dreams. If there was a way, he would of found it and would protect her from them. 

After some time, she did fall back asleep. Dreadwing waited a little while before letting sleep consume him as well. Their body's close. Shelby's head resting on Dreadwings arm. His other arm tightly wrapped around her waist. Her hands clenching onto his t-shirt seemed to loosen a bit, but not enough to fully let go. Neither were very relaxed, but they were to tired to not sleep. Their legs were intertwined under the white rough hospital blanket. They kept each other warm, as the blanket barely did anything. The whole hospital became quiet. After Shelby's episode, everyone was glad to go back to sleep. The nurses quietly did their rounds, not making a peep. 

June and Jack showed up in the morning to help check Shelby out of the hospital. When they arrived, Shelby and Dreadwing were still asleep. June couldn't help but tell Jack, how cute they looked together. Jack just brushed it off and walked into the room. His shoe squeaked on the floor as he walked, which in turn caused Dreadwing and Shelby to stir. Dreadwing was the first to wake. 

"Morning, sorry I didn't mean to wake you." Said Jack. 

Dreadwing gave him a understanding nod and looked back at the women lying next to him. He brushed her hair out of her face and rubbed his hand against her cheek. She stirred again and slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes were back to their crystal like blue, staring up into his ruby red ones. 

"Morning, Beautiful." He seemed to surprise himself as he said it. He looked away ashamed of what he said. 

"What's wrong?" She questioned. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call you beautiful." He whispered. 

"Why? I liked it. Unless you don't think that." She questioned. 

"No. Your absolutely beautiful. I've never seen such beauty as yours." He told her. 

She felt her cheeks heat up and tried to hide her face. 

"Don't hide." He said putting his hand under her chin making her look back at him. 

"I don't know why I'm acting like this, but I know you are the most beautiful femme I've ever seen." He whispered to her with a smile on his face. This caused her to blush even harder and her smile to grow. 

"Are you ready to go home?" He asked her. 

She immediately nodded her head making him chuckle. 

June brought Shelby a new set of clothes to wear, which Shelby was very thankful for. After stepping out of the bed for the first time in days, Shelby needed a little help to stand. Dreading helped by having her wrap her arm around his. She held on, making sure not to fall. June brought all the paperwork to Shelby to fill out. One of the doctors made her a referral to go see a psychiatrist when she got back to her hometown. Shelby took it, gave him a small smile and a thank you nod, then stuffed it in her pocket, with no intentions of taking it back out. Unless to throw it away. Dreadwing helped her walk out of the hospital. Optimus and the rest of the Autobots were there in their alts and Raf and Miko were waiting for the two to come out. 

"What are you all doing here?" Shelby asked in surprise. 

"We came to see you. We wanted to make sure you were all right." Optimus whispered as to not catch to much attention. 

"How about we talk more at base?" Ratchet suggested. 

"Good idea, old friend." agreed Optimus. 

"Where is your alt, Dreadwing?" Shelby looked up the holoform. 

"Its back at base. We'll ride with Optimus." He told her and they made their way over the semi truck. 

Shelby leaned against Dreadwing as they made their way back to base. Both excited to be out of the hospital. Dreadwing was happy to have his girl back. 

The minute they rode back into base, Dreadwings holoform dissipated. This made Shelby start to worry. Her heart started to race and she began to breath fast. 

"Shelby are you alright?" Asked Optimus as he came to a stop in the middle of the base. 

"Um...Yeah...Just a small...Panic attack..I...need Dreadwing." She stuttered. 

She stumbled out of the truck, falling on her hands and knees. After Optimus transformed he started trying to comfort the girl. Dreadwing walked out of one of the halls in his bipedal mode. Upon seeing Optimus holding his girl, he started to heat up in anger. 

'What is he doing holding her?' He asked himself. 

Knowing Shelby wouldn't like him to be angry, he tried to calm himself down, then he walked over. 

"Shelby what's wrong?" He asked. 

"She needs you, Dreadwing. She said she's having a panic attack." Optimus unsure of what he said. 

Dreadwing held out his servo and helped Shelby onto his palm with the other. 

"Don't ever do that...again without...warning." She yelled catching her breath. 

Dreadwing seemed taken back. Unsure of what she meant, he thought for a moment. Then it came to him. 

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. I just needed to get rid of the holoform. It was getting very uncomfortable." He tried to explain. 

"How long were you in it? Have you been able to recharge yourself." She questioned with worry on her face. 

"Don't worry, I was hooked up to the generator the whole time. To make sure nothing happened." He consoled her. 

She seemed to relax a little bit, letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. 

"Can we go home now?" She looked up at him with pleading eyes. 

Dreadwing looked to Optimus with an unsure look on his face. Shelby looked between the both of them. It was as if they were having a conversation between themselves, that no one else could here. 

"Um, Shelby, I'm not sure if you will want to go home." Dreadwing said to her sadly. 

"What do you mean?" Her voice rose with anger. 

Her hands clenched together. Dreadwing looked back to Optimus. Optimus looked down at Shelby. 

He cleared his throat, "Megatron had your home destroyed after you two escaped. He made Silas the one to do it." 

Shelby twitch at the name. She seemed to freeze. She didn't know how to react. She just heard her home was destroyed. 

"Please tell me your lying." She sneered through clenched teeth. 

All Optimus could do was shake his head.


	13. The truth is cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone copes with pain in their own ways. Shelby takes to the form of alcohol and isolation. Will the team be able to help?

Shelby couldn't believe it. She had to see it for herself. She begged the Prime to let her go and see the supposed damage done. It took a lot of convincing to get the Prime to agree. Optimus, Bumblebee, Arcee, Smokescreen and Bulkhead have to come with. Just incase it is a trap. Shelby didn't care if it was a trap or not. She had to see her home. The place she grew up in. The she came back to after her whole family was murdered. The place where she rebuilt Dreadwing. Someone who actually cares about her, and who she cares for deeply. The ground bridge was opened by Ratchet. All the bots, including Dreadwing, had their weapons out and ready. Optimus and Bumblebee were the first ones to walk though. Then Shelby and Dreadwing and last Arcee, Smokescreen and Bulkhead. 

On the other side of the ground bridge was not a pretty sight. The minute Shelby laid her eyes on the devastation in front of her, she fell to her knees. Tears formed in her eyes, but wouldn't fall. Dreadwing wanted to comfort her, but he knew he had to let her grieve. She had yet to really take it all in.

Her house, her white farm house, was now a smoldering mess. There was nothing left to show there used to be a house, except for the burnt white wood of the porch steps. The pillars that held the porch roof were laying broken and burned in front of the house. Shelby looked over at her shop/garage. It was in pieces. Hacked into pieces. Like someone took a giant machete to it and took all their anger out on it. The metal roof lay torn apart on top of her truck. Though it didn't look much like a truck anymore. Just a pile of scrap metal. Like someone stepped on it. Though someone or some con probably did as they were destroying the place. Though the barn was already falling apart, there was now nothing left of it. It was laying in ashes. The area around the house, barn and shop was black and still smoking. Trees were torn down or burned down. It was torture for Shelby to look at. 

"My home. What has happened to my home?" 

She shakes in anger and sadness. She doesn't know how to react. Dreadwing kneels beside her attempting to comfort her, but she pushes him away. He looks hurt by her actions, but he understand she is upset and needs time. The other bots lower their weapons and looked at the weeping women. They all know how she feels. For they too have lost their home. Before she can make another motion, they all hear a rustle in the back forty. They all look over, the bots and Dreadwing have their weapons at the ready. A tall blue and gray body slowly makes its way out of the woods that didn't get burned down. 

"Silas" Shelby Whispers. 

She jumps from her kneeling position and sprints to the remains of her shop. Praying her gun safe was still in tack. Silas knew where she was running to and started to run after her. 

"Get away from her your murderer." Dreadwing snarled as he cut Silas off. 

The two started to fight against each other. Silas took out Breakdowns hammer and got ready to use it on Dreadwing. The other bots started to shoot at him. Making sure to miss Dreadwing. 

"Silas, you are outnumbered." Optimus roared. 

Arcee and Bumblebee covered Shelby as she made it to the shop and began to dig. Bumblebee started helping her move rubble out of the way. Then there it was, what she was looking for. It was a little bend out of shape but still in tack. 

"Bumblebee, can you rip the door off this thing for me?" She yelled up to the yellow and black bot. He gave her a few beeps of acknowledgement and ripped the door clean off. 

Without wasting time, Shelby grabbed as many weapons as she could and shoved them all into a duffle bag that was laying inside the safe. She loaded her pistol and rifle, throwing the duffle over her shoulders and ran out of there. Dreadwing was still fighting Silas. Bulkhead was able to get behind and get a good blow in knocking him out. 

"Stop!" Yelled Shelby. 

"What? Why?" Scoffed Bulkhead. 

"I need answers." Is all she said. 

"Ratchet, we are taking in a Decepticon prisoner. " Optimus said though his com link. 

Bulkhead, Dreadwing, Bee and Arcee began to carry Silas though the ground bridge. Optimus starting walking towards it tell he noticed Shelby wasn't with him. He looked back and found the women taking another look at her home. Her head dropped down and she let a single tear fall. Optimus waited for her and when she decided to come, they walked though together in silence. 

Once on the other side, the bots had already strapped Silas to one of the berths to interrogate him. Silas was still knocked out, Dreadwing had made sure of that. Shelby walked over, her pistol in her hand. Locked and loaded, ready to fire. The bots made a path for her as she stormed over. Anger filled her eyes. A fire burned in her soul. She climbed up the berth and climbed on top of the body that held Silas. 

"I want to see his real face." She turned to Ratchet and said. 

Ratchet came over and removed the chest armor that protected Silas. Once opened everyone but Shelby and Dreadwing gasped. There were wires and cables all attached to Silas's head and upper torso. It was a gross site to see. His face all covered in cuts and bruises. 

His eyes started to flutter open and the first thing he saw was his youngest daughter waiting for him to wake up. Shelby sat on the edge of the armor where Silas could see her. He started to struggle against his binds, but it would be no use. He sneered at his little girl. So many questions ran through Shelby's head. She didn't know what question to start with. So,they glared at each other. Neither making a sound. 

"Why?" It was the only question she could think to say. 

"Why what?" He asked innocently. 

Clearly trying to get a reaction out of her. Shelby wasn't going to give in that easily. 

"You know what? Why did you abandoned your family? Why did you kill mom and Brandon? Why did you lie to us? Why are you hooked up in Breakdown's body? Why would you go to Megatron? Why did you destroy our home?" She screamed at him. A tear formed in her eye, but she refused to let it drop. She would not give him the satisfaction. 

"Did you kill the others too?" She said quietly. 

"I technically didn't kill them all. I did watch the life fade out of their eyes though." Silas smirked. 

Shelby kept her ground. She had been trained in this. She knew better. 

"Why would you do that to your own family?" she asked again. 

"Your older brothers were getting nosy. They started following me. When they caught me at base. I made sure they wouldn't run home and tell on me." He said, "Soon the others turned into test subjects. It made it easier after your brothers died and with you gone, it made it all the more easy. I just blamed you for the reasons I was gone. Though I still had to keep a face for your mother. Once the twins were gone, she was a wreck. I thought it would be beneficial to put her out of her misery. Brandon was supposed to join me. He helped me on some occasions. Helped me with covering up evidence and keeping the cops off my tail. But he lost it when I brought your mother into the mix. Had to kill him too." 

"Brandon would never do something like that." Shelby choked out.

"Oh but he did. He was perfect for it too. He wanted to power just like I did. He wanted the new technology, just like me. He was a spitting image of me. But he did make me promise to never touch you. You had to stay out of it. Which was easy since you never came home. You left for the military and rarely came home. You were never supposed to find out." He explained to her. 

Shelby didn't want to believe what she was hearing. She never thought in her life this would happen to her. 

"Why did you destroy our home, my home?" She couldn't look at him anymore. She had her head down now, looking at her feet. 

"That was Megatrons doing. Well he ordered me to do it. And since I am trying to stay on his good side, I completed his task." He chuckled a bit. 

She heard enough. She got up and walked away. Before she jumped down, she took one more look at the man she called father. She brought her pistol up, aiming at his heart. 

She let the tear finally fall. She couldn't do it. He smirked at her, knowing she would of never been able too. She brought the weapon back down to her side and jumped down. She got to the floor and walked away. Dreadwing started to follow her, but she put her hand up stopping him. She needed to be alone at this moment in time. A lot of information was thrown at her and she wasn't sure how to take it all in. All she wanted was to go home. Just to go home and have a nice ice cold drink and be with Dreadwing. 

"Is that to much to ask?" She yelled aloud. 

"Why is this happening to me?" 

She leaned against the hallway wall and slowly slid to the floor. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. 

The days and nights past with very little seeming to change. Shelby never left the base. She usually stayed in the room she shared with Dreadwing. She kept away from everyone. She didn't speak unless spoken too. Dreadwing could barely get her to talk. She spent most of her time cleaning her weapons. 

Taking them apart, reassembling them.   
Taking them apart, reassembling them. 

All day long. She barely ate, she only drank. Alcohol and lots of it. She could always hold her liquor, and now she drank it like water. It did nothing to her. Her body was so immune to it. She took her sips in between her weapon cleaning. She would usually go with Bumblebee or Bulkhead to go get it, as well cigarettes. She wanted to go with Dreadwing, but his alt would confuse a lot of people.   
They were all starting to get worried for her. Jack had explained the effects of alcohol to the bots and ex con after Dreadwing brought up the issue with all the liquor bottles starting to litter the floor of their room. He told them that she was abusing it now. It wasn't just a drink for a good time with her anymore. It was beginning to become a problem. 

"We must stop her drinking then." Optimus ordered. 

"Optimus, you can't just tell a drinker to stop drinking. She needs to go to therapy. She needs to get help. If this continues she will become more and more dependent on the alcohol. It will only get worse." Explained Jack. 

"When I first met her, she didn't seem to drink a lot." Dreadwing stated. 

"It doesn't take a lot for someone to become alcohol dependent. My mom said we need to see if she has a record of Alcoholism or if it runs in the family." Jack told them. 

"How do we find that out?" Arcee asked. 

"I'd say check her house, but that obviously won't work." Jack stated. 

"We still got Silas locked up, lets ask him. He is her father." Bulkhead suggested. 

Upon hearing this and agreeing, Optimus and Dreadwing made there way to where they were keeping Silas locked up.

They stormed into the room, both their faces showed anger. 

"Wake up!" Yelled Dreadwing as he yanked Silas out of statis. Silas awoke with a groggy start. 

"Does alcoholism run in Shelby's family?" Optimus voice echoed throughout the room. 

Silas gave them a smirk. 

"Why has poor Shelby taken up a little drinking?" He asked slyly. 

Dreadwing gave a low growl, causing Silas to flinch. 

"No, no one in the family had a drinking problem. No one, not even me, drank. It is something that happens to some members of the military when they have PTSD." He explained. 

"And what is that?" Dreadwing asked his teeth clenched together. 

"Maybe you should ask Shelby. She would be able to give you a better answer, since she is the one who has it." Silas smirked. 

Dreadwing went to punch him, but Optimus stopped him before he could. Dreadwing turned swiftly on his feet and walked out of the room abruptly. 

"Ratchet, please put him back in statis." Optimus told the medic, then he followed Dreadwing out of the room. 

"Jack, does your mother know anything about PTSD?" Dreadwing asked as he walked into the larger area of the building. 

"I'm not sure, but I can ask her." Jack took out his cell phone and proceeded to dial his mothers number. 

"No she doesn't know much. She said it does stands for post traumatic stress disorder. She hasn't dealt with any patients with the problem." He said hanging up the phone. 

Ratchet started to type away at the large computers. 

"It says here that it is a disorder in which a person has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event." Ratchet read of the computer. "Some symptoms include: Flashbacks, Nightmares, avoiding thoughts or feelings related to the traumatic even, staying away from places, events or objects that can be reminders of the traumatic experience, being easily startled, feeling tense or 'on edge', difficulty sleeping, angry outbursts, trouble remembering key features of the traumatic event, negative thoughts about oneself or the world, distorted feelings like guilt or blame, loss of interest in enjoyable activities, and it can lead to substance abuse." 

"She doesn't talk to us anymore. How can we know if she has any of that stuff?" Miko asked. 

"Well she has the Nightmares, She doesn't like to go anywhere, she barely leaves the room. She has difficulty sleeping as well as angry outbursts. She doesn't like to do anything anymore and she drinks...a lot." Dreadwing counted. 

"So it's safe to say that she has PTSD. Now how do we fix her?" Arcee asked. 

"You can't just fix her, like how you guys can fix yourselves. She's gonna take time to heal. The hard part is getting her to want to get help." Raf piped up. 

They all nodded understanding. They started to spit out ideas on how to get her to want help. They had yet to notice the alcoholic standing at the end of the hallway, listening to the conversation. 

She took a swig of the bottle of Jack she was carrying around with her. Her eyes droop from lack of sleep. Her hair was in a tangled messy pony tail on the top of her head. She was wearing a baggy black hoodie that was a few sizes to big for her. The back of the hoodie said 'Warning I'm a veteran & an asshole so if you don't want your feelings hurt walk away' in red and white lettering and a skull in the background. She also had on a pair of plain black leggings and was walking around barefoot. She knew what she was doing to herself. They don't have a clue of what's going on with her. She took another swig and turned to walk away, but something caught her attention.

"She still sings." Miko's voice rang out. 

Shelby stopped in her tracks and did a quick turn around. 

"Yeah, we've walked past her door a few times and could hear her. It was beautiful, but also sad. You could hear her sadness as she sang." Raf continued.

"I've heard her too." Said Arcee. 

The others started to agree. Dreadwing was the only one yet to say something about it. 

"Does she still sing to you, Dreadwing." Miko asked looking up at him, her eyes full of hope. 

Shelby leaned in closer, stumbling a little bit, causing her bottle to smash on the floor and glass shooting everywhere. Everyone and Everybot turned to look at where the noise came from. Dreadwing was the first to notice her and ran over to her. Shelby had fell down onto her knees, her hands covering her face. 

"Shelby?" Dreadwing slid to her in his holoform, wrapping his arms around her. 

"Shhhh It's okay, shhhh." He whispered into her ear. 

Jack ran over with a broom and started to sweep up the glass. The other bots plus Raf and Miko stood around the two. No one was sure what to say. Most were questioning how much she heard. For now, they just wanted to make sure she was okay. 

"Shelby, we need to talk to you." Arcee started. 

"Not now Arcee." Optimus stopped her. 

"I already know what you guys think of me. You think I'm an alcoholic. You think I need help. You think I have PTSD. Well you don't know the half of it." She glared at them all. 

With that she stood up and walked away. Dreadwing following behind. The others looked at each other in confusion. What did they not know?

"What don't we know? What haven't you told me?" Dreadwing immediately said after the door closed behind them. 

"You guys don't know anything!" She screamed at him. He backed up, looking at her in shock. She had never yelled at him like this. 

"I know how you feel." He said quietly pausing for a moment, making sure she was listening.

"I know your trying to grieve. I know that you blame yourself. I know you are trying to push everyone away, thinking it won't effect anyone." He continued to say. 

She crawled up on the bed and curled up on the pillow. Dreadwing sat on the edge of the bed, keeping a small distance. 

"I'm sorry." She choked out. 

"It's okay. I know what your going through. I lost my home and my twin. My twin was my only family. The only one who truly knew me. You lost your whole family and your home. The only difference is someone who you thought was family, was the one to destroy it." He explained. 

"I don't know what to do anymore, Dreadwing." She cried. "I just want to forget everything. Drinking doesn't even do anything to me anymore. Now I do it because I've been living on it. My body needs it, craves it. I can't get the nightmares out of my head. I can't handle the feeling of guilt eating away at me. Its my fault. All my fault." 

She cried into the pillow. Dreadwing leaned closer and rested his hand on her back. Shelby sat up and leaned over to the table next to the bed. She grabbed the pack of cigarettes and the ash tray and brought it over to herself. She leaned against the wall and lit up the nicotine stick. 

"You should probably quit that too." Dreadwing suggested. 

"I ain't quiten nothin." Her accent showing.

He decided to not argue with her. 

"I care about you, Shelby. I hate seeing you this way." He told her. 

She looked up for a few seconds, biting her lip, then looked back at him. 

"I'm a mess, Dreadwing. I'm a ticking time bomb. You shouldn't care about me." She looked him straight in the eyes. He shook his head at her. 

"No, your more than that. You are brave, smart, not to mention beautiful, you saved my life. Now it's time to return the favor." He told her, staring deeply into her eyes. 

She couldn't help but give a small smile. She looked away trying to hide it. 

"Don't you dare hide that smile. That is the first time I've seen you smile in days. I've missed it." He had grabbed her chin and made her look at him again. 

"Now, I'm not going to force you to quit anything, but I do think you should let us help you." he said deeply. 

"I don't want to go to therapy. I don't want to see some phycologist who thinks he knows how to cure me, but doesn't." She growled. 

"Then lets start with us helping you. We will start small." He suggested. 

She gave him a small smile and nodded her head. He gave her a smile back. 

He leaned his forehead against hers and said, "We will get though this together." 

He wanted to kiss her in that moment. In that moment he realized that she is the one. The one for him. He wanted to show her how much he meant to her, but he knew he had to take things slow. She was in a dangerous position right now. He needed to be careful. He was glad that she was willing to take the step to get better. To try and overcome this huge hill that was in front of her. He didn't have anyone there for him after his brother died. So, he was going to make sure he was there for her. She was not going to go through this alone. She melted into his chest and he held her close. 

She was glad that she had someone who wanted to be there for her. She was dying inside, slowly and painfully. She couldn't tell Dreadwing how she was really feeling. It would crush his spark. She wanted him to be happy. He deserved it and if trying to get better would do it. Then she will try. She knew she was falling for him. She hoped so was he, but he was an entirely different species. Why would he fall for a mere human? Especially one as messed up as her. She doesn't know what love is. For her sake, she hopes this is what it feels like. She knew she had to find way, but its hard for victims of PTSD to get through it. Especially one with a past like hers. 

She was going to do it for Dreadwing. He was going to be with her every step of the way. The others were going to back her. While the two were in their room, the others were looking up ways to help people with PTSD. For people with alcoholism. It was going to be a long process, but it was going to be worth it. 

 

The end...for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! This is just the end for now. There is a sequel that I will work on getting uploaded.   
> For those who don't know,   
> PTSD is very real and harms more than just are military members. They experience it in different ways and deal with it very differently. No one is the same.   
> I struggle with a small form myself and it is very hard for me to admit that. I use my writing to help me cope with my issues and I'm slowly getting better.   
> I hope that anyone else that is struggling is getting the help they need or are finding a healthy way to cope. 
> 
> Alcohol is not the answer, believe me I know. I still struggle with my alcohol problem today. But believe me when I say, I am trying. 
> 
> Thank you again for reading and I hope you enjoyed as much as I did writing it.   
> Stay tuned for the sequel "Bring Me Back"


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